New Convictions
by maunderse
Summary: What would happen if Iruka died during the Mizuki incident. Naruto has promised his dead sensei to become a serious shinobi and now armed with the knowledge of the shadow clones learning ability how far will he go. And now paired with Sasuke Uchiha, how good a pair of fiends will they become as they battle through their tumultuous lives side by side.
1. Prologue - A Teachers Resolve

Hello everyone, this is my first Naruto fanfic. I'm gonna be aiming to create a different, kinda smart, kinda strong naruto. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna be making him some super cold killer who's like a God in battle, but a realistic up beat naruto, but better.

This first chapters just to set up the future of the story, so enjoy, or cry which ever comes first. Read and review as any reviews will be very appreciated, thanks and enjoy.

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters and creations within this fanfic.**

**Prologue – The conviction of a teacher**

**Konoha Forest – Late at night**

Late at night in the moonlit forests of Konoha, Iruka Umino ran like the demons of hell were on his heels. This was for one reason, and that was his foolish, naive, gullible and pure students, Naruto Uzumaki. Earlier that night he had heard of his students actions and had instantly set out to find him with all due haste, because if he didn't find him, then the person that did would surely kill him. Spotting bright orange, Iruka thanked the Gods for his luck and instantly headed for it.

Out of breath and obviously angry, he shouted "What do you think you're doing out here Naruto?". His scarred face and brown ponytail stood out in the moonlight as the it bounced off of his green chunin vest.

He looked down at a young blonde boy in an orange jump-suit with blue and whit trims, and with whisker-marks on his cheeks.

The question was rhetorical of course, mainly because everyone ranked chunin and above was out searching for him. The main reason for this being that Naruto had been caught leaving the Hokage Tower with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, the scroll with all of Konoha's secret and most well guarded techniques combined. This was an act of treason of the highest order, even for a child like Naruto.

Naruto just held his hand behind his neck, rubbing it while grinning sheepishly, "Te he he he he. "

Iruka's eye twitched, his expression then hardened, "Naruto, what are you doing out here?! And with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals no less".

Naruto chuckled lightly for a moment before standing up and looking proud of himself, "You caught me fast Iruka-sensei, I only had time to learn one jutsu." That made Iruka's eyebrows rise under his headband in surprise, "Listen Iruka-sensei! I'm gonna show you this amazing jutsu and you're gonna let me graduate, then everything will be okay! That's the way it works, right? Anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll passes."

There wasn't any doubt now for Iruka, someone had tricked the easy and naïve Naruto, the thought of it pissed the teacher off to new levels. And the worst part was he honestly believed what he was saying, "Huh?! Where'd you get that idea?!"

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. Believe it!" Naruto said loudly, almost a shout. "He told me where to find the scroll and this place…" Then it hit Iruka, the boy had been deceived. But that wasn't what hit him, what was was that he had been deceived by someone who should have had his best interests at heart and was to be used as a scapegoat. And what could Naruto do but to trust his sensei to do what was right. Naruto didn't deserve this treachery of his trust, no teacher should break that trust.

"Naruto, I'm sorry to say this but Mizuki lied to you" Iruka shut his eyes so that he could think. Naruto was lucky he was the first one to find him, others would have probably killed him before he even knew what was going on.

Naruto looked up at Iruka, his eyes on the verge of tears, "I-Iruka-sensei am I in trouble?" Naruto had no idea what to do now. Should he give himself up? Run? Fight!? No that was stupid in of itself, how could he possibly beat Iruka, a chunin. No he had no delusions about his skills compared to that of Iruka, Iruka would hand Naruto his ass several times over and wouldn't even break a sweat.

Iruka sighed, what was he going to do? He placed a hand on Naruto's hair, "Honestly, Naruto? Yes. But if you come with me now I'll do whatever I can to vouch for you and help you get out of this." He said with as much conviction as he could. He could see Naruto was having an inner conflict, he was trying to decide whether he would run, fight, or just give up.

Naruto looked at Iruka, his eyes almost as if they were searching Iruka's to see if he was telling the truth. Mizuki had already lied to him today, apparently, so why trust Iruka-sensei wouldn't either? But he did give him his word. "Do you promise?"

Iruka smiled warmly "I just gave you my word, stupid." He couldn't help but to sigh in relief as he saw Naruto was going to come back, "Now, let's get going, Naruto-." that's when he heard the tell tale whistle of a bladed weapon travelling through the air "Naruto, look out!" Iruka tackled Naruto to the ground just as a massive shuriken passed right where he had been standing a second earlier.

"Nice work, Naruto. I see you found us out, Iruka" Mizuki stated as he appeared standing on a tree branch looking down at them they got back to their feet, standing defensively, "Now give me the scroll."

"The games up, Mizuki, he knows that you lied to him. What you've done is despicable, Mizuki, just tell me why? That's just what I can't rap my head around, why betray the leaf, your home?!." Iruka said moving his hand down his side, pulling out a kunai.

Mizuki just looked at Iruka for a moment before bursting out in laughter, "Why? You ask why? I'll tell you why. When we were children we both lost our parents to that demon brat, so I decided to befriend you Iruka, after all we were the same. That was until other people began treating you better than me, including our friends, the Third Hokage, and even people we didn't know. Why did you deserve all that compassion yet I received none!? I was left to rot, practically ignored. Is that fair? No! And now I'll have my revenge on this village by handing over that scroll to...lets say Iwa, I think they'll be pleased with the means to destroy Konoha." As Mizuki finished he broke into a manic laughter that filled the area with the crazed sound.

"I'm sorry you felt that way about our friendship, and you may say that everyone ignored, but I didn't. That's because our friendship meant something to me, but now you've forsaken that trust, I have no choice but to kill you" Iruka said launching himself at Mizuki.

Naruto just sat there wide-eyed as his two teachers exchanged blow after blow at speeds that Naruto almost couldn't keep up with. 'So this is a fight between two high level shinobi'. It was almost unreal in Naruto's mind how Iruka-sensei was able to keep up, but as he watched more closely he realised that Iruka was lagging behind and taking more and more blows. After a few more minutes Mizuki scored a knee to Iruka's stomach that wrapped him around his leg, just before he used both of his fists to knock Iruka to the ground which caused an updraft of dust and dirt.

Iruka lay there breathing heavily, he could feel that he'd broken several ribs from that knee and damaged them further on the trip down. He watched as Mizuki walked up to him with a sickening smile on his face," You were never a match for me, Iruka, so why bother? Why even protect this demon brat with your life, after all he is just an annoying little demon who killed your parents".

Naruto sat there listening to what was being said and once again was on the verge of tears. Why? Why did people call him a demon, was it the pranks. No it was happening before the pranks. And how, how did he kill Iruka's parents.

Mizuki looked to the side to see Naruto's tear lined face "Naruto, did you ever wonder why everyone hates you? Why everyone in the village knows about it but you."

Naruto looked at Mizuki, "I don't care what you say, you're just another of many who thinks I'm some kind of demon! You tricked me! You betrayed my trust, you're the demon!" Naruto shouted as more tears streamed down his face.

Mizuki just laughed again " Hmm, I guess you're right about me, I don't really care anymore though. But you...you care very much what people think about you, and that is that you're nothing more than a blight on the face of this village, something that needs to be taken care of"

Iruka saw that Mizuki's words cut deep into Naruto from the change of expression on his face. Even he knew it was true, "Mizuki…" Iruka growled lowly, "Stop this!. You know you cant talk about this."

Mizuki let out a loud bark of laughter, "Why would I care about that, I'm already a traitor. Naruto do you want to know why everyone hates you...Huh thought so. They've been lying to you your whole life Naruto. Since the decree twelve years ago."

"What decree?" Naruto said confused. Why would there be a whole decree based on him, it didn't make sense.

"Everyone knows except you. Iruka's trying to hide it from you, even now. He'd do anything to shut me up!" Mizuki said with a laugh at the snarl that escaped Iruka's lips.

Naruto couldn't take anymore, why was he treated like this?! He had to know "What is this decree? Why does everyone else know about it but me?"

"Don't tell him, it's forbidden!" Iruka tried to shout but started coughing up some blood from some internal injuries.

"The decree is that no one can tell you that the nine-tail fox is inside of you!" Mizuki said smiling in glee as he saw Naruto's eyes widen in shock. "The fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body! You are the nine-tails fox!" Mizuki said and seeing Naruto frozen in shock took the chance to throw his giant shuriken at the unmoving Naruto.

"STOOOP IT!" Iruka screamed, this time not caring about his injuries. Acting quickly he grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and him behind his own body, as shortly after the shuriken hit him in the back piercing his lung and several other vitals, "Agghh!" Iruka screamed as blood flew out of his body and mouth spattering against Naruto who stood there staring transfixed at the blood that covered his body.

"W-Why...I-Iruka-sensei?" Naruto said his voice breaking halfway through "W-Why..."

"Because you're the same as me. After my parents died, no one ever complimented me or recognised me. Being the bad student I was, I screwed up a lot during class...Because I wanted to get everyone's attention. I couldn't get anyone's attention when I was a good student... So I acted like an idiot." Iruka said to Naruto, looking at the tears that were once again flowing freely "It was tough..." Iruka tried to continue but found his breath escaping him.

"Right, Naruto? You were lonely, right? It was tough, right? I'm sorry, Naruto. You didn't have to feel that way if I was more aware." Iruka said with a sad smile, he slowly reached up to his Hitai-ate before taking it off. He then reached up to Naruto, taking the goggles of his head and switched it with his own Hitai-ate.

"I-Iruka-sensei...w-what are you" Naruto started to say but was interrupted by Iruka.

"You pass Naruto,..*cough*...ugh, for showing exemplary skills in taking that scroll. Now listen closely Naruto... I think we both know these wounds are fatal" Iruka said and raised his hand to silence his protests "They are Naruto, so listen up to what I'm about to say to you. Even though you don't pay attention in class and you're not that intelligent, you'll one day make an excellent ninja... and eventually a great Hokage, the greatest. Just keep working hard and never give up and know that I have total and utter faith in you...*cough*...*cough*..*cough*.. urgghh, the worlds a tough place Naruto and in it you will find situations that you may find insurmountable, but just keep at it and keep strong and I know you can pull through..."

"I-Iruka-sensei..I-I promise you I'll study hard, I'll re-do all your lessons, I...I promise I'll become the greatest shinobi and I'll make sure everyone knows that you're the person that taught the greatest of the great. You'll be the..*sniff*..famous Iruka-sensei" Naruto said all this with tears now making rivers down his face, but with a strong flame of determination burning through his eyes.

"Huh...I l-like the...sound of...tha-..." Iruka said with a sad smile as his features softened and his eyes lost their colour, and Naruto felt the heat and life leave Iruka as he held up the motionless body. As Iruka died Naruto's sobs racked him to the core, his mind had gone numb, how could this happen, how could this happen to Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei was always supposed to be there, he shouldn't have died. Naruto was suddenly snapped from his sorrow as his blood turned cold at the sound of laughter.

"HA, good-riddance is all I have to say to that foolish weakling. Now it's your turn to die brat. Oh! Got something to say... you're gonna have to speak louder than that" Mizuki said with another sinister grin on his face as he looked at Naruto. But he unconsciously took a step back at what he saw, Naruto was looking nothing like his usual self, instead of the usual happy child, he now looked up with feral eyes that promised death and destruction, his nails had turned practically into claws. But worst of all he covered in an almost liquid orange that submerged his entire body and had one large orange tail swinging behind him. The air around also seemed to suddenly scream violence, destruction and raw power. "W-What ar-"

"Don't you dare speak about Iruka-sensei like that, you don't deserve the right to about anyone like that, you monster. I'll kill you!" Naruto shouted then crossed his fingers before shouting 'Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' (Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu) and in a puff of smoke hundreds of Naruto's suddenly appeared before Mizuki who tripped backwards at the sight and fell down.

"H-H-How? Y-You can't even do a normal Bunshin" Mizuki stammered as he saw his inevitable end before him.

Naruto just smiled back at Mizuki before shouting "KILL HIM!" as the shout was taken up by all Naruto's who then proceeded to charge at Mizuki. With their claws, they made short work of Mizuki as they quickly bombarded and overwhelmed his defence and then proceeded to tear him apart in an almost brutal and horrific way as hias screams echoed throughout the forest.

Once Naruto had finished he took one last look at the bloodied and mangled corpse of Mizuki, before turning back to Iruka. Naruto proceeded to take the shuriken out of his body and continued to silently weep for one of the few people who had ever cared for him. After praying Iruka he created some clones to pick up his teacher's body before heading out towards the Hokage's home.

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**Sarutobi Residence – Early morning**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and revered 'God of Shinobi', was currently listening to his squabbling officers who were calling for Naruto's blood. Hiruzen just stood there in his Hokage white and red robes waiting for them to settle down. Once they were quiet he proceeded to talk. "Good, now that I have silence I will talk" several shinobi could not help but to wince as they realised they hadn't allowed there superior to talk. "There is no longer a crisis, Naruto has dealt with, and killed, the true traitor and is returning with the scroll. I feel I must also say I am truly disappointed with you all, instead of focusing on the scroll that holds this villages safety within it, you looked for Naruto's blood instead, which you surely would have unfairly killed for no more reason than for something that was out of his control. If I ever see such a poor display again, you will be severely reprimanded and punished. Dismissed." At the end of the Hokage's speech many had the grace to look shameful, but all quickly left not wanting anymore of the man's ire.

"Belligerent fools...uh, I guess I'm going to have to wait for poor Naruto and Iruka" the old Hokage said deciding to wait where he was, and several minutes later three Naruto's showed up carrying the body of Iruka.

Hiruzen looked sadly upon the form of dead man he had watched grow up with much joy and compassion, his gaze then drew to the boy carrying him. "Come bring Iruka inside Naruto" Naruto just nodded his head and carried his deceased teacher into the mansion were Hiruzen had a few servants take Iruka to a room where he would stay until his burial. Once that was done he had Naruto come to his office.

The Hokage looked at Naruto in silence for several minutes until he spoke, " Why don't you tell me what happened, Naruto" Hiruzen already knew what had happened due to his all-seeing-ball, which he had watched the events through, but decided it would be good for Naruto to get the events of his chest. After a while of listening Naruto had finally got to the end of the event and was once again crying as he remembered Iruka's last moments. Hiruzen just sighed sadly at seeing how much the events had hurt Naruto emotionally. "And how do you feel about this my boy" he said thinking it would be good to know whether or not he blamed himself.

"I-I feel that if I hadn't been such an idiot...I-Iruka-sensei would still be alive" Naruto stammered through his tears. Hiruzen just sighed again.

"Naruto my boy, I can only be honest with you and tell you what you say is true" this just caused Naruto to cry all the harder at having someone confirm it, "but that doesn't mean it's your fault" he added. Upon seeing Naruto's confused and hopeful face he decided to elaborate. "No-one can be blamed for trusting their teacher as it is no sin, if it was I know a certain person who'd be locked in chains, but isn't"

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Somewhere on the other side of Konoha a woman in a trench coat sneezed "Shit, must mean someone's talking about me" a sadistic smile spread across her face " if I find who it is I'll feed them to my snakes..hehe...hehehe" she said braking out in laughter.

In front of her a confused prisoner could only feel dread at the fact a mad woman was his torturer.

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Hiruzen couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine for some reason, but carried on "Furthermore, Mizuki was the one that did all of this and manipulated you and went on to kill Iruka, not you. And lastly Naruto, and remember this, Iruka done his duty protecting you and the village, he choose to save your life at the cost of his. So remember that and take pride in Iruka's sacrifice for the greater good of the village and you, don't tarnish his decision by wallowing in self-pity, instead stand up tall and do what you promised to do and make him proud." As he finished he couldn't help but to smile at seeing Naruto sit a little straighter and wipe the tears from his eyes. "Good, now what do you plan to do now"

"I...I'm gonna start becoming a better ninja and I'm gonna study, I'm gonna do all the things I promised and make Iruka-sensei proud" Naruto said with fire in his eyes that made Hiruzen chuckle. "But I'm not sure how to do that or where to start, could you help me jiji" Naruto said which caused the old Hokage to sweat-drop a little.

He just sat there for a while deciding whether or not tell Naruto some things, but in the end decided to do it " Naruto create a shadow clone please" Naruto was confused but complied, Naruto was surprised to see him do the same. "Now get your shadow clone to follow mine" Naruto complied again as his shadow clone followed his outside of the room. A minute later they came back in and Hiruzen told him to dispel which he did. But Naruto just sat there confused, "what's that supposed to show me jiji, I already knew I could create shadow clones" Naruto said causing the old Hokage to want to slap his hand to his face, but didn't.

"Naruto, what did my clone say to yours?"

"Umm, your wife's name was Biwako, but what does that show me?" Naruto asked and Hiruzen once again felt the urge to slap his forehead.

"Naruto, how could you have known that when you couldn't hear them"

"Umm, because you told my shadow clone and when... it ...dispelled, wait now I get it! Whatever my shadow clone learns, I learn, right?" Naruto said obviously pleased with himself.

"Yes, Naruto. Now tell me how that helps you" Hiruzen said hoping this time he'd get it quicker than last time.

"Uuugh, if I sent multiple clones to learn something I could learn what each of those clones learn" Naruto said with a smile spreading across his lips for the first time.

"Yes, well done my boy. Also now that you're a ninja you allowed into the ninja section of the library, meaning if you sent several shadow clones to the library and had them read up on things whilst you train your body you'll be getting the best of both worlds, brawn and brains." Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Thanks for the help jiji, I don't know what I'd do without ya" Naruto said with a light smile " but I best be heading home now, I've got a lot to think about"

"Of course, of course. Just remember that team selection is in one week, so don't be late" he said with a smile as he finished he noticed Naruto's mood darken but watched it quickly change back.

"Sure thing jiji, see you around" and with that he left to go home.

As Naruto left the old Hokage walked to a picture of his predecessor and sighed 'ah, Kushina, Minato I feel as though I've failed you in so many ways. I hope you can forgive this decrepit old man for his numerous mistakes'

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Well there you have it, did you like it? Did you cry? I bet you did, I know I did and I'm the writer. Na im just joking, but tell me if you think I got the moment right or was it just another boring death.

As always reviews are liked, even if its to say you don't like it, just give a valid reason why so that I can possibly cater to your needs. Also as this was a short chapter I'll be releasing another one this week. But all others will take a week or two to be uploaded.


	2. First steps towards a better tomorrow

Hello again everyone! As said another installment, I hope you enjoy. The general use of this is to instill some emotion in Iruka's death and to show Naruto's progress and slight change.

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******First steps towards a better tomorrow **

**Konohagakure no Sato – streets of the shinobi shopping District**

As Naruto walked down the street he couldn't help but to wonder how he was going to be able to get all the things he needed. Earlier on today Naruto had drawn out all of his savings from his life so that he would be able to buy what he needed to today. He had decided to turn over a new leaf with Iruka-sensei's passing, in other words he was going out to get his shinobi essentials and to get a change in attire, because his clothes would be like a homing beacon for all enemy shinobi, who wears orange anyway. Well him, and he liked them. But he had decided it would be better to look the part of future Hokage aswell as a great shinobi and not an idiotic child who pranks the town on a regular basis. And that was another thing he'd done, he'd promised to stop pranking, as hard as that would be for him. But now his troubles lead him to where to get his items of choice? The problem with it was when he went in most shops they would kick him out straight away, and the ones that didn't would charge extortionate prices. So where to go. But like a sign from Kami a young girl in traditional Chinese clothing carrying several large boxes walked straight into him, and in turn dropped all the boxes. OK, maybe just a painful piece of luck.

"Ow~...Sorry about that" the girl said helping Naruto up from the pile of boxes. Upon closer look Naruto could she was slightly older than him with brown hair tied up into a bun, good looking aswell he thought but wasn't about to say it.

"Ermm, that's okay. I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto said with a smile and scratch of the back of his head.

"I'm Tenten, just Tenten really. So what you doing out here" she inquired politely.

"Oh! That's right I'm looking for a shinobi equipment store, do ya know a decent one" He asked hopeful that she actually would, but was confused when she started laughing.

"Follow me, my father owns the best Shinobi store in Konoha, if I do say so myself. And let me guess, new clothes" She inquired jokingly, but the barb was clear. She then proceeded to walk towards a store full of weapons and other gear.

"Huh, that obvious" he said knowing the answer already.

"Pretty hard to miss" they continued to walk into the store, which was full of just about every type of weapon there was, swords, staffs, daggers, kunai, shuriken, bladed gauntlets and much, much more. On top of that there was also a clothing section that looked just as packed.

"Wow, I think you were right" he said a little over awed by the display of shinobi items. This was truly a ninja's heaven.

"I know right, now would you like me to get some things for you whilst you get your clothes?" she said obviously holding back a bit of laughter at his expense no doubt.

"Erm... ye, I think I'll have...400 shuriken, 200 kunai, 25 smoke bombs, 5 flash tags, some sealing scrolls for all of that and a good sword, I think that's all I need... What?" he said seeing Tenten's sweat-drop appearance.

"Right, all you need is enough equipment to fight a one-man war with Iwa. And possibly Kumo as well. Huh, I'll go get that" she said walking of to get the things he needed.

Thirty minutes later Naruto had just got changed into a pair of black combat trousers with white ankle tape that hid the last of his leg, black shoes, a blue jacket that covered all of his arms but was open at the chest showing a black shirt on underneath. He had several more pairs of these clothes in a bag that he had just bought to the counter where Tenten had several boxes of kunai and shuriken and other things.

"Wow, that's a considerable amount better" Tenten said as he handed her the bag with the rest of the clothes in, which she neatly stacked with the other things.

"Now I'm going to show you how to seal and unseal all this stuff" she said pulling out a small scroll and setting the box of kunai on top of it "to seal it just cover the item you want to seal in your chakra and then connect it with chakra to the seal on the centre of the scroll. After that just say 'fuin'(seal) and flare your chakra, the seal will recognise you want to seal this item and then do so" she said and proceeded to demonstrate, and with a puff of smoke the 400 kunai disappeared into the scroll.

Tenten then proceeded to do this with all of the other items, other than the clothes, but each with their own separate scroll. " And to unseal just channel chakra into the seal and think of the number of the items you want to come out, and say 'fuin kai'(seal release)" as she did so some shuriken came out, which she sealed again afterwards.

"That was pretty cool, but what about the sword" as soon as he said that Tenten smiled and pulled out a roughly 45 inch bladed sword with an orange and black diamond-shaped pattern on the hilt, an orange tassel on the end of that, and had no guard. "Huh, now that looks cool" which she had to nod to, but..."And it has orange, yatta! At least I can keep some orange on me, thank you, thank you, tha-" this carried on for a little while which just caused Tenten to sweat-drop. But eventually Naruto stopped.

"Ye-... You must really love orange" which Naruto nodded vigourously to, " Anyway..Cool? Your lucky I even remembered we had this, its not just a sword, it's a chakra enhanced sword that is also capable of handling chakra natures" Tenten said looking like she was on the verge of a giddy brake down. But Naruto just couldn't understand why, maybe she just loved weapons, like a lot.

"So..." at this Tenten just sweat-droped again.

"Uh, you didn't understand that did you. Didn't you learn about chakra natures and chakra forged weapons in the academy? Uhh... never mind, I'll just explain it. All right, listen up because if I have to explain this again I'm going to use this sword to make you just a red stain on the wall" Naruto couldn't help but to back up a little and start nodding like an idiot.

"I'm listening, I'm listening, just don't kill me" He said causing Tenten to chuckle.

"Good. Now, the chakra enhanced part means that it was forged and moulded with chakra which makes the particles of the sword merge to an almost molecular level, meaning the sword is extremely strong, dense and sharp. But the best part is its ability to handle chakra natures without breaking. Chakra natures are just types of chakra that we use in jutsu, for instance fire chakra makes fire justu, wind makes wind jutsu and the same for earth, lightening and water chakra. Everyone has something called a nature affinity, this means that whatever chakra affinity you have your strongest with, I.e if your nature affinity is lightening your strongest jutsu type will be lightening type.

But that's not all, when you find out your nature affinity and have learned to use it you can channel into certain weapons like this sword. But water can't be channelled into weapons because it has no use in them, but wind makes your blade incredibly sharp – to the point you can cut anything in half, even stone and metal – the same goes for lightening -just not to the same extent-, fire just engulfs your blade in a flame making it very hard for your opponent to fight against and earth hardens the blade so that it cant be cut except by lightening. Now do you understand?" As she finished she couldn't help but smile at the look of awe on Naruto's face.

"That. Sword. Is. Awesome!" Naruto said pronouncing every word clearly, which just made Tenten chuckle.

"I know right. Now, that all comes to...77'032 Ryo. But with the discount that's currently it comes to 56'491 Ryo" Tenten said quite cheerily as Naruto handed over the money.

"You're just happy 'cause you just made a killing" he said begrudgingly.

"Yep, don't forget to come around again some time soon. Especially with an order like that" she called out as he left the store.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As Naruto came into the street he couldn't help but to smile, it was happening! He was starting his change today, he promised he'd do what he could to become a great ninja, and he was starting now. '_Just you wait Iruka-sensei! Soon I'll be so famous even the after life would have heard about me, Believe It!'_.

Naruto quickly thought about what to do next and then remembered -begrudgingly- that he'd also swore to do some studying and decided it would be best to start now. So Naruto quickly set out for the library after his little trip to the store, but he swore he'd never seen a woman as happy as when they'd managed to get one up on any male. Sighing Naruto thought it best to just go and get the things he needed so started roof hoping to get to the library. All though Naruto had promised Iruka he would study hard he couldn't help but be pleased by the fact that he didn't have to read anything, only his clones did. But the thought of reading still sent shudders of dread down his back, so when he entered the library and jut saw and endless amount of books he nearly collapsed then and there. But, decided to follow through and get what he needed.

Walking up to the desk he decided he'd ask the woman at the desk, "Umm, hello" he said nervously.

"Hello young man what can I do for you" she said barely looking up from her paperwork with a bored expression.

"Umm... I'd like some help finding some books... please" he said still not able to shake of his nervousness of being seen in the library, and that of actually reading.

Sighing and getting up from her desk she said "very well, what would you like"

"Urrrm, all of the taijutsu,kenjutsu, chakra and chakra control related things you have. Also some books with with a detailed history of each village and country. And lastly any ninjutsu scrolls and things you'd recommend for basic intelligence building books, things like strategy and things" As he finished he saw the woman's shoulders sag.

"Ugh, this is going to take a while, just sit at that desk over by the window and I'll bring them to you. Furthermore I'll take it you're only a genin? Thought so, that means I can only give you C-rank and below ninjutsu, if there is any."

"N- Oh yeah!, any jutsu or information you have on shadow clone jutsu, that also means any tactical guides on how to use them" Naruto said remembering that there were justu that complemented all clone jutsus, so he thought that it would be useful to know them.

The woman just sighed and shook her head, "Kid, that's an A-rank jutsu, I'm afraid I can't give you that"

"What if I showed you that the Hokage had already given me permission to use Shadow clone jutsu. Will you give me them then?" Naruto said, hopeful that he could get around this snag.

"Yes, if you can prove it, Kid. But the only way I'll believe that is if the Hokage comes here himself or you use shadow clone...justu" before she could finish Naruto had already brought out 10 shadow clones.

"told you I did, believe it!" all the Narutos shouted gaining him some glares from people in the library. Naruto just dispelled his clones and apologised, "So?"

"Fine, I'll be back shortly...ugh, more like around an hour, but hey, what can you do" After she finished she walked of to complete her task while Naruto sat at the desk by the window.

Naruto sat there contemplating what life would be like now that he was a ninja, what changes that would make to his life, what new things he'd be able to do, places he'll go, people he'll meet. Life wouldn't just be different now, it would be completely new. His one constant, his one supporting foundation and friend he'd found in Iruka was gone. And the worst part was Naruto couldn't help think it was at least partly his fault. After all Iruka wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for him. There was so many things he had to think about that he didn't realise the 40 minutes that went by until the woman came back and told him to follow her. She took him to a reading room with a large table, on that table was a large pile of books and a few scrolls.

"Right, I'll tell you the rules, you can borrow as many items as you want, but they have to be returned after 3 weeks and if you want you can draw them out again for another 3 weeks. Get the idea? Good, now I'll leave you to decide how you're going to get these home" As she finished she walked out and back to her desk. Naruto just looked at his new collection of books and then pulled out the spare sealing scroll that he had got from Tenten and used it to seal the books in and then left the library.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto walked towards the training grounds with a smile wide across his, he was so happy he even managed to ignore the quizzical and disgusted looks he was getting. Today would be the first day that he'd be taking his steps towards becoming Hokage! He was going to read all these books and jutsu – Ok his clones would be doing that, but hey same thing... in the end at least- and he'd be training until dusk. He will become Hokage, he will keep his promise to Iruka-sensei! Nothing could or would stop him, not now, not ever.

So he went to the training grounds with a stupid smile on his face until he arrived at an open section within the woods which had a small lake just next to it, perfect. For training anyway. Quickly doing a hand sign Naruto produced 50 clones whom he set to work reading all the books he had, making sure that each and every book on chakra, chakra types and chakra control was being read. Once done he told them to read the books and when done do any practice exercises that were in there and repeat them until he told them to dispel. After that Naruto pulled out some scrolls on kenjutsu and started to read them.

After about an hour Naruto had read the general description of each and every Kenjutsu style he had, and eventually decided he'd practice one that suited him perfectly. It focused on battering the opponents defence and wearing away at there stamina, but at the same time would use attacks that focused on cutting the arms and legs of the opponent so that they would be worn down again. This style was perfect for those with large energy reserves and could out last his opponent, which was Naruto to the letter. Naruto then proceeded to read the basic stances and Kata. After he'd done that he produced another 50 clones and told them to practice the Kata with his new sword. His beautiful orange and black sword.

After this was done Naruto decided that whilst his clones were doing things to improve his intellect he'd improve his stamina, strength and speed. This involved doing 30 laps of the field he was in, 200 sit ups, 200 pull ups, 100 punches and kicks with each leg and arm. When that was done Naruto decided to take a break and check what the time was, and when he did Naruto was surprised to find that it was nearly 8 o'clock.

"ugh, my body's in agony. Guess I better head back home and get some rest." Turning to his 100 hundred clones, Naruto shouted " Oi! Put the books back inside the scroll and dispel". What Naruto didn't count on was when he dispelled his mind suddenly filled with enough knowledge and memories that he literally passed out from the pain.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Hokage's office**

Looking through his blue orb Hiruzen chuckled as he watched Naruto collapse "hm, maybe I should have told Naruto about that side effect," he paused to take another puff of smoke " ah-well, can't change it now. Scarecrow-san" as he said this an ANBU officer wearing a crow shaped mask suddenly appeared by the old Hokage's side.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." he said in a lazy voice.

"I want you to go pick Naruto up from training field seven and take him home. After that I want you to keep an eye on him and see how he improves in his training, after all he is going to be on your team" the old man said with a small smile.

"Hai" was all the ANBU said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

With a sigh Hiruzen let out another puff of smoke "I hope you pass Kakashi's test, Naruto. Because if you do I'm sure you couldn't have a better or more ironic sensei" silently he finished '_Because after all he is your fathers student __and will pass his beliefs on to you.' _

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Next day early morning – Naruto's apartment**

As Naruto woke up he slowly opened his eyes, trying not to aggravate his throbbing headache, to surprisingly find himself in his bed at home. Naruto looked around to try and find some reason as to how he got home, but only found his clothes and other items had been brought back here with him, which caused Naruto to sigh in relief. But it seriously vexed Naruto as he tried to figure out how he got back, but in the end gave up and decided to meditate on what he'd learned. After about half-an-hour he was surprised by the amount he had learnt, probably more than his entire stay at the academy. That thought made him laugh until he remembered Iruka-sensei and decided to repress those thoughts.

After deciding he'd had enough of sitting around he decided to create some clones to do some training. 50 would practice a taijutsu style he had chose, it relied mainly on taking one punch to give three back, 50 would do some basic chakra control by making a leaf hover slightly above his hand, and when that was done add another until he had five on each hand, 50 would do kenjutsu and the last 50 would read the books again. After that he sent them all to do the training out the place he was at yesterday.

Once that was done Naruto decided he needed to head to jiji's office and ask about that memory feed back thing. He quickly picked up gama-chan and left for the old Hokage's office.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Hokage's office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage was in the middle of receiving a mission report from team Gai. Yesterday there had been bandits sighted just outside of the village hoping to waylay some caravans. The Hokage had quickly sent out Gai's team and they had swiftly dealt with the problem. The old Hokage couldn't help but think everything was going fine in the debriefing, that was until Naruto came in.

"Yo, jiji I- Oh right, your in the middle of something, I'll come back in a little while... oh! Tenten, wait... you're a ninja?" Naruto said as he passively changed the subject twice.

"Naruto you idiot! Don't talk to the Hokage in such a disrespectful manner. And yes I am" Tenten said holding up a threatening fist.

"Now, now Tenten-san, it's alright for Naruto talk to me like that if I allow it. But I do thank you for your concern" Tenten paled slightly at the hidden scolding.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Tenten said acting a little shameful, but stopped when she heard a snicker, " And what are you laughing at!"

"Wo, don't shout. I was just laughing at how you just got told by jiji, he. Oh, and jiji, are you going senile or did you just forget to tell me that dispelling all those clones at once would nearly kill me. Because if you are maybe I should just kick your arse and become Hokage today!" At this Naruto saw Tenten's jaw drop, her white eyed team mate look at Naruto with interest, the jounin in a green jump-suit and his chibi version started spouting of nonsense about youthful flames.

The Hokage just chuckled and said" ah, you never fall short to amuse me Naruto. I admit to forgetting to tell you about that little detail" Hiruzen chuckled again when he heard Naruto say "Tell that to my 'little' headache".

"True, true. But I'm definitely going to have to get a bit stronger to beat me and for me to name you my successor."

"he, well maybe not today, but someday. Believe it. Now how do I get around that memory feedback thing" Naruto said now calming back down.

"Easy enough, just don't dispel them all at once. Dispel them in groups of ten with a few inbetween each group. That should allow your brain to process the information without overloading" He said taking a puff of his smoke " Now Naruto, would please come back again later so I can do this debriefing"

"Sure thing, see you later Jiji, Tenten-chan" Naruto said waving over his head as he left.

Once Naruto had left Tenten blushed at the suffix he'd used at the end of her name and looked back to the Hokage.

"So...Hokage-sama. You talked about the side effects of Shadow clone jutsu if I'm not mistaken?" Gai waited for the Hokage nod " so he not only has the ability to pull of an A-rank jutsu, but you made like he could create multiple clones, how many can the kid produce?" Gai said generally interested, but when his team heard A-rank jutsu they were all suddenly interested as well.

Hiruzen chuckled before saying " Well all I know is that he can create 300 without even breaking a sweat." at this Gai suddenly looked unsteady.

"Wi-with ease? That puts his chakra capacity at least in-between jounin and Kage! How the hell does he manage that." Gai said shakily, causing all the others to look at him in utter shock. Between jounin and Kage! And a genin no less.

"He, he, he, I think we both know how Gai" the Kage said ominously, but Gai seemed to understand.

"Yes, I suppose we do at that" Gai said seriously " I can't wait to see what his flames of youth can do, I think we can all expect great things from him in the future" he finished to which the Hokage agreed leaving three very curious genin to wonder what think about this new anomaly that was Naruto.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**5 days later – Team induction day**

The past week had passed surprisingly quick for Naruto, for the most part he'd spent that week training to get stronger. Naruto couldn't help but to smile as he had not only gotten but also smatter, his mental capacity must of at least tripled so far this week. He knew Iruka-sensei was looking at him from the next life with a proud smile. But Naruto tended to bury any thoughts about his deceased older brother figure, it was still to hard to think about him without getting heavily emotional.

In his training Naruto had progressed with his chakra control exercises, he could now levitate two leaves on each hand at once. He was trying for 3 on each, but splitting his chakra in two directions and then three again was still out of his grasp, but he was progressing and would soon have it down. In kenjutsu he had completed all 5 levels of novice and was now on level 3 intermediate, 7 levels more and he'd begin the first level of expert, and then onto master. Then his taijutsu had progressed much more, he was now a level 9 intermediate his new style. He was very proud of that, along with the old man as well. His knowledge had also improved a great deal, where he was only able to score 41% on his test at the academy previously he could now get 86%. But Naruto's definite best improvement was his jutsu in his opinion, as thanks to a little bit of help from the old man Naruto had been able to nail a few awesome jutsu. He just couldn't wait to stuff them in Sasuke's face and show Sakura-chan just how awesome he was. Ye, then she'd like Naruto and not that teme.

But as good as his improvements were Naruto knew they weren't enough, he had promised Iruka-sensei he'd be the best and he wouldn't stop until he was. But for now Naruto just had to focus on team selection. He had read somewhere that as a tradition senseis would test there team after graduation to see if they really deserve to be shinobi. So Naruto was not going to walk into this blind, for once anyway. But as he walked towards the academy he couldn't help but to wonder who his sensei would be, they would never equate to Iruka-sensei that was for sure. But would he be good, well he was a jounin so that was a given, but he just hoped he didn't get some silver haired lazy pervert. That would just be to awful for words to describe, but hey what were the odds of that motley character ever being a real person. Ah well it didn't matter to Naruto as he stood in front of the doors to his old class, Iruka-sensei's old class.

Naruto nervously swallowed before putting his hand on the door handle, today he would be a ninja, today was another step towards his promise. Putting all nerves aside Naruto walked in and started walking towards his seat. Hopefully nothing would go wrong today, but it seemed God had other things in mind.

"Hey dobe, what you doing here, you failed!" Naruto gritted his teeth and forced a smile onto his face as he turned to see the raven haired Uchiha.

"Actually, teme, Iruka-sensei passed me." Naruto said swearing he wouldn't lose his temper with that annoying Uchiha with an assortment of poles up his arse.

"Hn, whatever dobe, I don't really care. But what's with the style change, copying me now are we?" Sasuke said with one of his 'I'm so awesome and I know I am' smirks.

To which a load of fan girls swooned "Sasuke's so cool!" and...

"Stop copying Sasuke-kun" and...

"You'll never be as good as Sasuke-kun!"

Forcing down his urge to snap Sasuke's neck and then dice him into an Uchiha kebab. Instead forcing his answer out through clenched teeth he said" how am I Copying you, the only thing we have in common is one piece of clothing and our mutual hatred of each other, teme"

"Hn, whatever" was the curt reply he got before he sat down. '_damn Uchiha, I'll show you Iruka-sensei was right and that I'm gonna be the best ninja ever. Believe it!'._

Shortly after an old substitute walked in an halted all conversation with a loud cough and a raising of his hand, " quite down please, quite! Good, now today we have a special and tragic announcement, but I wont be the one to give, that is the Hokage's job today. Now everyone be quite and respectful, Hokage-sama they're ready for you now" the old man called out before talking a respectful step back as the old Hokage in his red and white robes walked in and stepped up.

"Hello today everyone, I'll first of all congratulate you on your successful promotions. You are all about to take an impressive step forward in your respective shinobi careers, but do not stop here! Carry this advantage and push it, and keep pushing it until you reach the pinnacle of your career, and then push even more. Because I'll tell you something, you never truly reach your limit, you just give up. Now remember this and remember well, you can never reach your 'best' but you can always strive to be the best you can be. That is all any of us shinobi can do and it makes all the better for it, because the only difference between the strong and the weak is that the weak tried, failed and gave up! But those who are strong tried, failed and tried and tried again until they reached their goal. Then they set a new one and so on so on. If you do this you will truly be a worthy shinobi." the Hokage stopped for the moment looking over the class, next came the hard part.

"Now I'm sure your all wondering were Iruka-sensei is, hm?" at this there was a lot of mumbling but the old Hokage managed to catch a glimpse of pain on Naruto's face.

"This is why I'm really here today" at this all mumbling stopped and was instead replaced with quizzical looks. "I'm truly sorry to inform you that Iruka Umino, chunin and teacher of the village hidden in the leaves, was killed in defence of Konoha one week ago" at this there many gasps and shocked faces, even Sasuke had slightly dropped jaw.

"H-How? How did Iruka-sensei die?" a very shaken and slightly distraught Sakura asked.

"I will explain that now, if it is alright with you Naruto?" the old Hokage asked his grandson figure. This of course turned many heads towards Naruto.

"What does this have to do with that idiot!" exclaimed a tearful Sakura, as she like many other students were taking this quite hard. The Hokage just turned his head to the girl with a stern expression that sent shivers down her spine.

"Because, miss Haruno, Naruto and Iruka were the closest thing each other had to family so it his right to let you know or not. Furthermore as this involves Naruto as he was there when Iruka died he has all the more right to decide !" Sakura quickly mumbled an apology, before thinking, like many other students, Naruto and Iruka-sensei like family, that didn't make sense as those two were always at each other with either pranks or rebuttals and detentions.

"Sure thing, jiji" Naruto said feeling like there was a sudden void inside of his stomach, why did the old man have to bring that up. Naruto was also vexed that the old man had boxed him into a corner so the only thing he could say was yes. But as soon as he finished his sentence Sakura stood up again and shouted "What? I call him an idiot and you tell me off, but he calls you jiji and you just let it slide!"

"Miss Haruno be quite! I have know Naruto for many years, that's many more than I've know you, and allow him to call me that. Now one more outburst from you and I'll strip you of that promotion and have you sent back to the academy to learn what insubordination means. You are a shinobi now, act like one" The kind old man said in a voice that radiated a sense of angry command. Of course this had the desired effect and shut the young Haruno up as she sat back down.

For the next thirty minutes the Sandaime went over the incident of Iruka's death, but thankfully for Naruto changed it so that Mizuki stole the scroll and came across Iruka and Naruto whilst they taking a walk home through the forest. He also left out the details about Kyuubi, but that was a given. And then went on to tell about how Iruka and Naruto fought and defeated Mizuki but at the cost of Iruka's life.

"And that is how your sensei died. He died an honourable death, just as honourable as that of the Yondaime. This teaches us something very valuable also. And that is no matter what you do or who you are even you can protect your village, no matter how menial or small, it can possibly help us save our precious people and village. His death showed us a lot about Iruka, even if he was just a teacher he was willing to die for his precious people and this village, showing the will of fire burned brightly within him. He showed the true strength of all shinobi, not the strength to kill those you hate, but the strength and resolve to die for the sake of what you care for. Remember that because in his death Iruka taught us all a valuable lesson, the strength of a true shinobi, the strength of a protector." as he finished he looked around to see the many tear stained faces among the students, as Hiruzen knew Iruka was obviously an outstanding and deeply loved teacher. But among all these pained faces he did not see Naruto's, instead his was more of the blank look someone has when there contemplating all there wrongs and faults in life, and Hiruzen knew Naruto was silently blaming himself. He truly felt for boy, he lost someone to his own mistake, and it couldn't be any other way than for him to blame himself, but he really wished Naruto wouldn't. It hurt the man just to see him like this.

"Now all remember his sacrifice, remember his strength, remember his kind heart, his joy to teach and his love for this village, as these are the things we shall honour him for. Now you'll have a few minutes to digest this and then you'll be placed in teams, goodbye and enjoy and illustrious career as ninja, but from this remember that death is part and parcel of our life and before your done you'll lose many more loved ones to this occupation, but just remember to carry on and do your best for their sacrifices" and with that the Hokage left the students to their own thoughts.

There was total and utter silence as everyone thought on what they'd just heard, their sensei, THIERS! Had just died. How could this happen, this wasn't supposed to happen to them. This was the general thoughts for all, apart from two, one being Sasuke Uchiha and the other being Naruto Uzumaki.

Sasuke was thinking on what he'd just heard about his teacher, Sasuke could definitely say the man died an honourable death. But strength in his will to protect, please, the only way to gain true strength is to fuel your hatred into weapon and use it to kill all of those who oppose you. That foolish teacher was a prime example, he died protecting his precious people, whereas if he'd just attacked with the hate of an enemy shinobi trying to destroy Konoha then he would have won. But none the less Sasuke respected the the way the man was willing to die for his beliefs, just as he was in his belief that he would kill **'that' **man.

Naruto looked down at his hands as he thought of the mistakes he had made, the first and most obvious one being how he trusted Mizuki-teme. If he'd just thought for one second he would have realised just how stupid and obvious the situation was, but no, he just had to be a shinobi even if it cost him, which it did. The price was far to high for Naruto's liking though, but now he had to deal with it and make sure he kept his promise to Iruka-sensei.

Just as everyone was thinking they were snapped from their thoughts as the old teacher stepped forward again and caught everyone's attention. "Now that we've had time to contemplate this tragic news we'll move on to team selection"

* * *

Well once agin there you have it and I hope you enjoyed. As always reveiws liked. Also if you want throw in some suggestions and ill be sure to think it over, cheers.


	3. The start of 'Team Defected'

**Hello again everyone. **

**First of all I would just like to clarify duelwarrior's comment, in my description it clearly says 'NO rinnegan except pein', not ' Uzumaki rinnegan'. I just put that in there to let people know I don't like the Uzumaki Kekkai Genkai being a rinnegan because it doesn't fit, much like you said. But I also have to clarify that the Uzumaki have senju blood in them as they are related to them. Thanks for the review aswell.**

**Also for Roboguy45, I agree as you'll find out. I dislike sakura with a passion. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna single her out and hate on her for no reason, just I'm not gonna have Naruto in love with her either. **

**Enjoy**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Academy graduation classroom**

Just as everyone was thinking, they were snapped from their thoughts as the old teacher stepped forward again and caught everyone's attention. "Now that we've had time to contemplate this tragic news we'll move on to team selection" He announced in a gruff voice, as he did several jonin walked into the room.

"These men and women before you will be your new jonin sensei and will help guide, train and protect you in the coming months or years until you are ready to take the leap to chunin. You will now be split into groups of three and passed over to your jounin. Now team1..." At hearing groups of three more than one girl started screaming about their love for 'Sasuke-kun', but were all silenced.

'_I've got to be with Sasuke-kun, this is just a test of love! You'll be mine soon Sasuke-kun.' _Sakura thought along with her inner personality. She kept thinking about her prevailing love and how she was going to rub it into Ino pigs face.

'_hn, a three-man cell will just slow me down. Well if they get in my way I'll just have to ditch them. Ugh, I better not get that loser Naruto, or Sakura, I can deal with Naruto but Sakura will just pull me down'_ Sasuke couldn't help but to smile at the prospect of possibly leaving those two behind, that way he could finally start on his goal to killing _Itachi_.

'Hm, I wouldn't mind having Sakura-chan, but if I have broody I'm gonna start killing people, or him, or myself, which ever comes first' Naruto though was still ecstatic at the idea of finally putting this weeks hard training to work, but nearly missed his name when called out.

"And team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki.."

'_please be someone like Choji, Shikamaru or Kiba. Just don't be Sasuke-teme' _Naruto thought with his hands slapped together as he prayed to God.

" and Sasuke Uchiha"

"NO! You can't put me with teme!_"__ "_No! Not the dobe!" were the two shouts that echoed through the room as Naruto and Sasuke shouted what they thought of this idea.

"Shut up Naruto! Don't speak to Sasuke-kun that way!" Sakura shouted instantly coming to her crush's defence, but was mainly ignored as Sasuke and Naruto practically slumped into their chairs like defeated men.

"And lastly, Sakura Haruno. Your team will be under Kakashi Hatake" Which was met with a loud squeal of joy from Sakura as she pumped her fist into the air.

"Take that Ino-pig, true love prevails yet again!" Sakura shouted as she jumped up and down excitedly not aware of Sasuke slumping further into his chair.

After jumping some more and declaring her love for Sasuke on top of that Sakura sat down to listen to the other teams, which were: Team 8 who were under Kurenai Yuhi, a beautiful young black-haired woman with red eyes and a stunning figure which shown of nicely in her red dress with white raps, consisted of Hinata Hyuga, Shino Abarume and Kiba Inazuka. And team 10, who were under a middle-aged man with what looked like a smoking addiction and a white sash around his waist called Asuma Sarutobi.

Once all the teams were done the genin all left with their respective sensei, that is other than Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura who stood there waiting for their sensei.

And waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting...

But after 3 hours and the limit of Naruto's patience, a man wearing a face mask and with one eye covered by his Hitai-ate, silver hair that stood out at an odd angle and a lazy look on his face walked in. "Yo, sorry I'm late but I got lost on the road to life" he said with a lazy wave of his hand causing all three genin to sweat-drop.

"Uh! That's a useless excuse, you just couldn't be asked to get here on time." Sakura shouted raising her fist threateningly. Seriously, the nerve of some people!

"Eh, what does it matter, I'm here now. Well, meet me on the roof in five minutes" He said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Uh, great! I can tell this guy's gonna be a pain in the arse" Naruto said before deciding to go to the roof.

"Shut up, Idiot" Sakura said before turning to Sasuke "come on Sasuke-kun, let's go meet our sensei" she said before grabbing his arm and trying to walk with him.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

5 five minutes later, on the roof of the academy Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto sat down in-front of their new sensei. After staring at each other for a few moments Kakashi decided to fill the empty space in the air, "So, why don't you introduce yourselves, you know, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and hobbies" he said sitting back a little.

"Why don't you start first, sensei. Seeing as we know the least about you" Sakura said, not quite sure exactly what to say.

Kakashi stared at her for a moment before sighing and starting things of, "Well I'm Kakashi Hatake, jounin Konoha. My likes are... not telling you. My dislikes... to troublesome to list. My hobbies...can't tell you that. And my dreams...never really thought about that before." He finished in a lazy and bored tone that would put a Nara to shame. This of course caused all genin present to sweat-drop at the lack of an introduction.

"Great! All that did was remind me of your name and solidify my belief that your a useless, lazy, silver-haired pervert. One of two things I prayed I didn't have on this team!" Naruto said causing Kakashi to laugh and scratch the back of his head.

"He, he. How did you know I'm a pervert?" He asked innocently causing Naruto to groan, Sasuke to grunt and Sakura to yell.

"Well I didn't, but you just confirmed my guess" Naruto honestly didn't understand how this guy was a jounin, or a ninja for that matter.

"Guessed?! Huh, that's never happened before. Oh! You said two, what's the other" Kakashi couldn't helped but feel a little shameful that someone had already found out he was a pervert just from a guess.

"Uh, take a guess and look at 'Mr my-hobbie-is-brooding-and-having-polls-stuck-up-my-arse'" Naruto said, flinching a little at Sakura's quick defence of her crush.

"Take that back moron, Sasuke-kun doesn't brood or have a poll up his..." she shouted before starting a giggling fit at the mention of 'her' Sasuke-kun's rear. That just caused Kakashi to sweat-drop, '_great an absolute fan girl, just my luck'_.

"Alright, now that I know I have a brooder, fan-girl and a dead-last, why don't you tell me about yourselves. You first blondy" Kakashi said, although despite the problems of this team he could see a large amount of potential for each of them, with the right amount of training though.

Naruto raised an eyebrow his sensei's obvious attempt to antagonise them all. "Ok then. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, loyalty, friendship and those who keep their word… and Kenjutsu." Naruto smirked Sasuke's scoff. He really that guy! "I dislike arrogant fools who don't like me for what they don't understand! As well as the three minutes it takes to cook ramen. My hobbies include training and Kenjutsu." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And my dreams are…" He stopped bracing himself for the obvious reactions from his team-mates. "To fulfil my promise to Iruka-sensei and to protect all those close to me, and to become the greatest Hokage." He said, conviction and resolve burning in his eyes.

While his two team-mates scoffed at him, Kakashi just smiled knowing what had happened. He also couldn't help but to marvel at how much Naruto had grown up in the short time after Iruka's death. No longer was he the loud and brash brat who had painted the Hokage monument, but was now a young man on the way to becoming a serious and responsible ninja. Kakashi couldn't help but to see his father starting to influence him more and more.

Kakashi snapped out of his thoughts and looked to Sakura. "Alright you, pinky, you're next."

Sakura scowled at being called pinky but answered anyway. "My name Haruno Sakura. What I like… I mean the person I like is…" she looked over at Sasuke and blushed. "My hobbies are…" she looked over at Sasuke, blushed and giggled. "And my dream for the future…" she looked over at Sasuke, blushed, squealed and got a slight nose bleed.

Kakashi and Naruto both sweat dropped and Sasuke just scoffed, all to used to this behaviour by now. Great, this just solidifies my belief that all fan-girls are useless. Kakashi sighed to himself. "Is there anything you don't like?" he asked.

"NARUTO BAKA!" Sakura screeched.

"Alright then…" Kakashi picked out his ear with his pinky finger. "You, the broody one, you're next."

Sasuke's scowl deepened at his sensei's comment but just carried on as if nothing happened. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like anything, and I dislike too many things to name. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan… and kill a certain someone."

'Oh man, Sasuke-kun is soo cool!' Sakura thought squealing in delight. 'CHA! He's so hot!' Inner Sakura let her opinion be known.

Naruto just sat there. 'Broody bastard just got even darker, well I wonder if he can get any more darker. Actually lets not jinx it, I've gotta spend at least the next few months with him'.

'It's just as I thought'. Kakashi sighed; he had figured that this was how Sasuke would be. 'I can only hope he'll eventually turn away from this path'. "Good!" he said snapping the others from the thoughts, keeping his lazy expression on his face. "You've all got your own opinions and you're all unique!" He nodded to himself. "Now tomorrow we will have our first mission as a team."

"What kind of mission?" asked Naruto, eager to finally prove he could be a great ninja. "Locate some missing ninja, wipe out a fortress? C'mon sensei, tell us!"

"Calm down Naruto." Kakashi spoke in a lazy voice. When the blond finally stopped he spoke again. "Our task will involve just the four of us. A survival exercise." Kakashi stood there expecting the verbal abuse, but none came. Much to his surprise.

"A survival exercise?" Sakura questioned. "But we already took those back in the academy!"

"This isn't going be some simple exercise. This is nothing like your training at the academy." Kakashi stated with a smirk, not that his soon to be students could see it. Or not, it all depends on if they pass the test.

Naruto decided to make his thoughts known. "Is this that test to become genin".

Kakashi just looked at Naruto for a moment completely dumbfounded.

"Naruto, you're such an idiot. We just took that test a week ago. How the hell did you even pass it" Sakura shouted hoping to gain some approval from Sasuke.

"Actually that was a test to see whether we were ready to take the genin test or not. The real test to become a genin is given to us by our sensei" Naruto then looked round to see the looks he was getting and decided to clarify "I read it in a book to do with Konoha teaching and learning guides". Once he finished he heard the obvious scoff of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Please, you would never be caught dead reading" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun's right. You probably can't even read, idiot" Sakura chimed in in her annoying screech.

"And what would you two know about me? All you ever do is brood, Sasuke-teme. And all you do is shout and hit me. I know more about you two than either of you know about me combined!" Naruto said surprising everyone with the amount of venom his voice held. But Naruto was still having the same thought go through his head. 'Uh, how could I have ever liked that screech, it's painful to listen to'.

"Ye and what's that. There's nothing to know about you, you're a nobody. It would be pointless to know about someone like you. Whereas to know about me is simple, after all I am an Uchiha!" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Yeah! Sasuke-kun is right, you're just a nobody" came the monotonous voice of Sakura.

"Oh! And that's coming from you Sakura, don't forget you're a nobody aswell. Well I say aswell but really you're on your own. See Sasuke you think you're the only person with clan problems. I'm also from a clan, the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure, the village hidden in the whirlpools, whom were all wiped out in the same way your's were" Naruto was now furious with Uchiha. 'How can that teme be so stuck up, I swear I'm gonna kill him some day'.

"Ha! That's probably because they were weaklings just like you" Sasuke said venomously.

"Well, if you had done your history you would have found that they were the most feared clan in the world at the time. Their skill in fuinjutsu was so powerful and unrivalled that the second great shinobi war was started just to wipe them out. This never happened for the Uchiha, even they weren't as feared as the Uzumaki were" Naruto shouted in Sasuke's, smiling when he saw Sasuke's face change to a visage of rage.

"Ha! What a load of crap, no clan is as feared as the Uchiha. We are the greatest of all clans!" It was clear by the way Sasuke was shouting that he was now angry that any clan could compete with the Uchiha, and this made Naruto smile in pure joy.

"Oh, I seem to remember the Senju wiping the floor with the Uchiha." that got the desired reaction as Sasuke stopped for a second realising that Naruto was right. ' Come on teme, just bite and see what happens'.

"Alright, maybe that was true, but you're no Senju." He replied going back to his smug smile, but was confused when Naruto started laughing.

"Wrong. The Uzumaki are descendants and close relatives of the Senju clan, we just split apart during the time that Konohagakure was created. Take that you smug bastard" Naruto couldn't help but put on a smug smile as Sasuke was at a loss for words. 'Got ya bastard'.

Sasuke though quickly regained his cool. 'Uh! I can't let Naruto pick me apart like this, its embarrassing'. "Well, as true as that is I have the Sharingan, what does your clan have. Apart from some speciality in fuinjutsu".

Naruto just smirked all the more. "Well, teme, my clan was famous for our longevity of life and strong life force. This means that we live for a very long time, where a normal person may live to the age of 70 and there prime last from their teens to late twenties, an Uzumaki can live to about 110 and their prime can last from their teens to forties. And the life force means we are born with and develop an insane amount of chakra, usually all Uzumaki get enough chakra for a jounin all the way to Kage. Every single one of them, even me, as mine is currently at the level of low jonin or high chunin". 'Ha! That wiped the smugness right off of your face you useless bastard'. Naruto thought looking at the shocked looks on his team-mates faces.

"Wh-what! That can't be true, could it Sensei?" Sakura said looking to her new teacher.

Kakashi who had been sitting there listening to this series of events with amazement was snapped out of it as he heard Sakura and saw she along with Sasuke were looking at him with a look of disbelieving on their faces. "Um, well yes. Yes it is all true, but I'm more amazed at the fact you knew Naruto, how did you."

Naruto just smiled and looked at his sensei. "Well, I decided to read up on clans seeing as our class was predominately clan members, and when I did the Uzumaki came up. So I did some research on it at home and in the library, I'm planning on going to ask if the Uzumaki have anything here in Konoha that were left behind before they...you know, went deceased" Naruto finished slightly upset at the fact that he just remembered his deceased clans outcome.

'Ah! He must have looked them up when I wasn't watching him. I'm just glad he didn't find out who his mother was, that would have definitely lead him to his father. I mean it didn't take me long to figure out after the Kyuubi attack, it would have only taken a small amount of digging for him' he thought sighing to himself. "Well done Naruto, that was a good idea to research the clans of Konoha, I suggest you all do the same for clans for inside and outside the village" Kakashi said. " Now before anymore arguments break out let me say I want you all to meet at training ground 7 at 5:00 am. Bring all your gear and weapons. Oh! And I'm the one who gets to decide whether you three pass or fail. And I would suggest not eating breakfast tomorrow morning." And with that he shunshined away leaving three students, one smug, one furious and the last confused.

"I'm out of here." Sasuke muttered as he stood up.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun maybe we can spend some time together, you know to make a plan to pass Kakashi's test." Sakura said in a hopeful voice, but got rejected point-blank.

Naruto just shook his head as he watched them leave. " I can't believe that I actually like her, and she likes him for that matter. And that he just rejects her completely. Maybe we're all just idiots, hm. Well best go speak to jiji" Naruto mused as he set out for the Hokage tower.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind an old wooden desk as stamped another requisition for supplies and cursed the bane of all Kage; paperwork. Picking up another form on the alleged 'demon brat' Hiruzen sighed and tore it up before moving on, but just as he was picking up another sheet Naruto walked in.

"Hello jiji, enjoying the paperwork" he said cheerily as he took a seat opposite the old Kage.

"I would be lying if I said I was. But tell me how did your meeting go with team 7." Hiruzen asked inquiringly but noticed Naruto's face turn to one of annoyance.

"Kami I hate that Uchiha, but I did knock him down a peg or two. Ha, you should have seen his face, priceless." Naruto said with him smiling smugly at the end of it.

"Oh! And how did you do that, the Uchiha have always had a smug arrogance that's hard to get around." He said wondering just how he managed to do it, and praying that he didn't hit him.

"Well, I just told him all about my clan history and then told him how we are related to the Senju that seemed to constantly kick Uchiha arse." after hearing this Hiruzen's ever-present pipe dropped out of his mouth and hit the desk with a loud 'clack' and he went wide-eyed.

"What! H-How did you find out" the old man stumble through his sentence.

"Ha! I knew you knew about this. Why didn't you tell me" Naruto said smiling as he pressed the surprised Kage.

Hiruzen sat there for a few minutes before sighing. " Well Naruto-kun, I think I'll tell you I know about your clan, and parents for that matter. But" he said stopping Naruto's quick questions " I can't tell you about them, not until you're old enough anyway. And before you say anything it's because if I told you, you would be in a lot of danger, and so would the village"

Naruto sat still for a minute before looking Hiruzen in the eyes "Huh, so my parents were important I'll take it. I can't say I don't like not being told who they are but I guess I can wait a while if it's for the safety of me and the village. After all it's my dream to become Hokage and that means protecting all the people of this village, even now." Naruto said with a sad smile.

"I am sorry I can't tell you yet, but I can tell you on your sixteenth birthday, that I promise you. But I can tell you about your clan, after all I did meet a lot of them. Especially during the wars I might add. So ask away." Hiruzen said smiling once he saw the light come back into Naruto's smile.

"Well, first of all what were they like. Also what were they like in battle and lastly did they leave anything behind in Konoha before they all died" Naruto said with giddy excitement as he rushed through his questions.

Hiruzen smiled as he put his elbows on the desk and rested his head on his hands. "Well, where do I start? I guess I'll start with the first and second question. First of I'll tell you what your clansmen looked like, they were all generally tall, strong people with red or ginger hair. You're the first I've known that is blonde. They were also famed to have the most handsome men and beautiful women in all of the elemental nations. Also with my experience with your clan I can tell you they were very kind and loving people. They all sought peace and world happiness, never in my years did I meet an evil or twisted Uzumaki. They were all kind and peaceful to the core." As he stopped for a moment he closed his eyes and smiled deeper.

"But saying that, that doesn't mean that they wouldn't retaliate when their loved ones or friends and allies were in danger. And when they did Kami have mercy on the souls of the fools who did. In battle the Uzumaki were one of if not the most cunning and intelligent people on the battlefield, always excellent strategists. Only matched by the Nara of Konoha. Also their fuinjutsu was sublime, they could do things with seals that you would think impossible. For instance they had seals that could cast large-scale genjutsu – which they did so that people couldn't find Uzushiogakure -, bring statues to life, fire high level jutsu, absorbed the chakra out of ninjutsu, make weapons come to life and shape-shifting ones aswell. And so much more. That doesn't even begin to describe how they were in battle, they all had jonin to Kage and higher chakra reserves, they all were masters of either wind, water or lightening affinities. For this they gained the nick name '_A__rekuruu Arashino Kami' _which means Gods of the raging storm, because when they used these elements in conjunction it was like the heavens themselves were answering the call of the Uzumaki.

But seeing as they were only a small clan of usually around fifty they weren't enough to hold back the combined forces of Iwa and Kumo. I'm sorry to say that Konoha arrived to late to aid Uzu and they fell. But from what I can generally tell they never got into the village, Uzu's fuinjutsu traps made them too much of a risk to enter because if you weren't an Uzumaki it was suicide. Even for a Kage. But even so Kumo and Iwa starved them out aswell as using long-range jutsu to kill of many of the citizens and shinobi, and after a while the last few Uzumaki ordered the citizens to retreat and scatter into the world as they held of the invading forces along with the last of their shinobi. Truly the most heroic of deaths as even today the people of Uzu live on in the world thanks to their brave sacrifice. Never in my time alive have I met such great people." As Hiruzen finished he looked up to see a smiling Naruto. They both sat for a few moments in silence to take in the things that had been said, almost out of honour for the dead.

"I'm glad I come from such a great clan, not for their power but strength in beliefs and ideology. I'm truly proud to be an Uzumaki, thank you for telling me what legacy I have to live up to jiji. I'll make you and the people of Uzushiogakure proud, just you wait I'll be the greatest Uzumaki. Believe it." Naruto said proudly as he put his fist to his heart. "That's the promise of a life time"

Upon hearing this Hiruzen couldn't help but to chuckle. "I'm sure you will my boy. But now to answer your last question, yes they did leave some things here. Follow me, it's time you got some of your inheritance. You were supposed to get this when you were sixteen aswell, but I can give you most of it today, you'll get the rest the day I tell you about your parents." He then proceeded to walk out of the Hokage's tower setting a brisk pace.

For several minutes they walked through Konoha's streets, Naruto getting less glares than usual as he was with the Hokage but some still did it anyway. After a few more minutes they arrived at the Sarutobi compound and the Hokage proceeded to walk on through until he came to a large building with two doors at the front.

"This is the Sarutobi vaults, in here I have stored your inheritance" the Hokage said before walking in. When they did Naruto couldn't help but be impressed. All around there were stacks of scrolls, unique looking weapons, some jewels and many more things.

"Cool jiji. This is all yours" Naruto said impressed.

"No,no my boy. This is everyone's in the Sarutobi clan. Now follow me." Naruto did as said and followed him. They quickly walked over to a door at the end of the room and opened it. Inside the room was about thirty pull out containers all with Kanji on for different names, but one caught Naruto's attention, the one that said Uzumaki. Naruto looked up at the old Hokage with an unasked question to which he nodded. "Go on my boy, it's your right after-all."

Naruto quickly walked up to the container and put his hand on the handle, taking a few calming breaths Naruto prepared to take his first step towards his clan, his family. After so many years, even though it wasn't going to tell him who his parents were, it felt great to finally be so close to them that he could almost feel it. 'I can't believe it, the first time I study in my life and it draws me so close to my family. I seriously should have given Iruka-sensei more and less exploding apples when he said study was an important part of life and being a shinobi' Naruto thought with a smirk before pulling open the container.

Inside was a few various items, the most notable for Naruto was a Hit-ate with the Uzumaki swirl on it and a blood-red cloth band. Picking it up Naruto felt the weight of it, about the same as his Konoha one. Naruto turned round to look at the Hokage, "Can I".

Hiruzen just chuckled knowing Naruto would want to, "Yes, but promise me you wont talk about reviving Uzu or anything like that. It would probably cause quite the stir in the council. But it should be fine as everyone knows that symbol is deeply intertwined with that of Konoha's and will be able to identify you as a Konoha shinobi."

"Sure thing Jiji" Naruto said before swapping his Konoha head band for his Uzu one, after that he tied the Konoha one around his left thigh. "Do you think that'll help jiji?"

"Yes, I'm sure it will. Now why don't you have a look at the other things, but pass any scrolls you find to me okay, I just need to make sure they have no reference to your parents in them and to tell you what any seals mean."

Naruto nodded before looking back inside the box, next he pulled out a red paperback book that read ' The history and teachings of Uzushiogakure'. Naruto smiled and tucked it inside of his Kunai pouch. Next there was another book, this time on the clans, leaders and heroes of Uzushiogakure, doing the same with this book as the last. Next Naruto saw there was only scrolls and motioned for the Hokage to start looking through them.

After a few minutes the old Hokage placed several scrolls into Naruto's arms and kept three in his hands. "First of all the blue scroll has some Uzu flack vest and equipment within it, you know how to use seals basically, I presume anyway...Good. You can have a look at them at home and see what you could use, although don't use any flak vests until you reach chunin, okay. Next are the red ones, they're all clan and village jutsu. They will mainly focus on lightning, wind and water jutsu, but there will be other jutsu as-well. They all have levels on them and are stored in alphabetical order, but try not to practice jutsu that are to hard for you, just take it slowly Okay. Oh that reminds me, wait here" Hiruzen said before walking out of the room.

Several minutes later Naruto was getting impatient but didn't have to wait any longer as the old man walked back in holding a piece of paper. Handing it over to a confused Naruto he said "That is a special piece of paper made from chakra enhanced trees. Channel your chakra into it and it will tell you what your nature affinity is. Once you know this you'll be able to know what your strongest nature type is and will allow you to excel in its use. Go on"

Naruto smiled for a moment before channelling chakra into the paper and watched as it crumpled slightly, surprising him. But what happened next surprised both the Hokage and Naruto as the paper suddenly crumpled even further until it was the shape of a ball and gave Naruto a static shock. "Ah!...Piece of shit. Ah, I mean...I mean...um, sorry jiji" This was when Naruto realised the utterly flabbergasted look on the old mans face. "Huh, did I do something wrong, jiji?"

"I-I...Um, no. Kami no! What you just did is spectacular, what you just showed was the first high affinity to lightning in history!" Hiruzen said in disbelief.

"Uh, is that like the Nidaime's high water affinity?" Naruto asked not quite knowing what to do or say.

"Yes and no. The Nidaime's high water allowed him to collect water particles out of the air. I think yours will be more along the line of being able to use natural lightning, even when the weather isn't in the right condition. And your lightning jutsu will be extremely powerful" The old Kage said coming out of his daze. 'This is amazing! With the right training Naruto should be able to become an exemplary ninja. I'm glad Kakashi is his sensei, he can learn much from him. Crap this is going to mean a lot of paperwork and a council meeting' Hiruzen thought with a sigh.

"Cool. Just another thing I can rub in teme's face" Naruto said with a smug grin.

"Yes, I suppose you can. Now moving on, the larger ones are all fuinjutsu and all have levels on them. Inside each will be a book on how to go about learning. There will not be any scrolls were you can simply do as you see. The reason for this is fuinjutsu is a very precise art that requires the most steady hand and perfect hand writing as even the slightest mistake can backfire in the most horrific of manners. So before starting any fuinjutsu use your shadow clones to perfect your handwriting and when you have come to me or Kakashi so that we can approve you for the start of your fuinjutsu lessons, which we'll guide you through. Understood?" Hiruzen said with a stern look that left no room for argument. "And lastly, in the black scroll is... well I don't really know, to read it I believe you need the Uzumaki blood, so just read it when you get home, Okay?"

"Yes, jiji. But what's in those other three scrolls?" Naruto asked in a submissive voice.

Hiruzen looked down at the scrolls and then back to Naruto, "well, one is your mothers will, and the other a personal letter from her to you. And the last one is the remainder of the Uzumaki treasury, if I'm not mistaken it's about 48 million ryo" as he finished Naruto dropped other scrolls along with his jaw.

"W-W-What! 4-48 Million Ryo! Yes, I'm rich. Woo hoo!" Naruto said jumping up and down carrying on with his excited cries of joy.

"Yes you are Naruto-kun, I'm going to take this scroll to the bank and open up an account for you so that no one tries to take it from you on false claims. But do not waste this money, use it wisely and sparingly like you would any other time. Don't forget that money turns wise and good men into arrogant and evil fools, so don't change just because the figures in your bak has, Okay?" Hiruzen said offering his sagely advice.

"Sure thing Jiji, I just can't believe I can finally buy what I want and move out of that apartment complex" Naruto said happily. The prospect of living in a quality home with whatever he want was almost as good a feeling he had from finding out about his clan.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Although, if it's alright with you may I be in charge of the property you are to buy. Because seeing as you are a special clan of Konoha you have the right to buy a clan complex, not just one home. And I have the perfect one in mind." Hiruzen said with a smile, 'the Namikaze complex will be perfect. Ha, ha I'm going to have some resistance from the council though. Plus I'll have to move any traces of his parents from the complex and relocate them' Hiruzen thought with a sly smile. " But it will take a while to sort things out with the council"

"Actually I would love that jiji, I didn't really want to spend time looking over properties and getting ripped of either. So I'm glad you can do it" Naruto said scratching the back of his head with a small chuckle which was met with one from the old Hokage.

"I'm sure you didn't. Also, I'll now be setting you a weekly allowance to keep an eye on your balance. Other than that you're free to go now Naruto-kun" He said stepping out of the way of the door to let Naruto past.

"Thanks again jiji, see ya later" Naruto said picking up the scrolls and setting out for home, he was going to have so much fun going through all of this. He knew that he'd be late home after all the training he'd be doing tonight.

As Hiruzen watched him leave he couldn't help but sigh, glad that something good had finally happened for the boy. His life had had to many hardships for someone his age, but then again even if he'd had a bad life Naruto had turned out fine. Much to the delight of the Old Hokage, he knew that one day he'd be hearing and seeing great things from Naruto.

* * *

**Well, I hope you liked it and if you didn't then tell me why and I'll see if I can amend the problem. **


	4. Agh, a Lion Agh, an idiot

**Roboguy45, thanks for continuing to read, and there will definitely be more of Sasuke shutting the F up.**

**Hridiago, Spoilers. tehehe, enjoy that answer, but there will be another element.**

**Decius23, thanks for the info, I'll be having a look into that as I'm currently reading 'the Raikage '. Also I'm thinking of not using sage mode. I really want Naruto to develop his own abilities and not just suddenly be gifted Kage level powers after a short stay at a mountain full of toads, but that doesn't mean I definitely wont use it. **

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The dobe, the Teme and the Fan-girl**

It was early morning, the sun had just risen, the birds were singing. And an unnaturally pink-haired girl was screaming about her late sensei and team-mate.

"I mean seriously, they're both two hours late. Where are they! I swear if I get my hands on them I'm gonna kill them, especially that idiot Naruto!" the pinkette screeched as she walked back and forth on training ground seven, a large area full of forest, rivers and fields.

"Hn." was the stoic reply of the ever calm Uchiha. Although he wasn't really paying attention to the girls mad ravings, but felt he should make some response so she didn't bother him.

"Ye! You so right Sasuke-kun, he probably got scared and decided to quit" she said but was surprised when she heard Naruto speak behind her.

"No, I'm just late" he said walking towards them slowly.

"You're late" she shouted waving her fist out.

"Uh, didn't I just admit to that, are you stupid or did you just luck out on your test" Naruto said keeping a smile on his face, 'not gonna let you get under my nerves today' he thought, trying to keep the persona of a calm ninja.

"Why you...you...Ah! Shut up Naruto Baka!" she shouted yet again.

"Is that all you can say,well doesn't matter as Kakashi-sensei will be here shortly" Naruto replied still refusing to cave in and shout back.

Just before Sakura could shout back though Kakashi appeared with a little red book in his hand and was in the process of reading it. "Hello guys, I hope you didn't have to wait to long. I got lost on the road to life" his lazy voice said as he looked up from his book and put it in his Kunai pouch.

"You're late!" shouted the ever-present voice that was Sakura Haruno, causing all three men to wince at the high pitch screech.

Sasuke looked over to his fan-girl with a scowl, "Sakura".

Sakura hearing her crush call her instantly swooned over him, "Yes, Sasuke-kun" she said hoping for a date.

"Shut up" Sasuke said looking away from the upset and disappointed girl. And this time Naruto couldn't help but to agree with Sasuke, even if it was harsh.

"Well, now that's out of the...Naruto why are you wearing that new jacket and foreign head protector, you know wearing a head band not from Konoha is illegal, right?" Kakashi said seeing Naruto's new red jacket and Uzu head band.

The other two now noticing looked at Naruto also wondering why. "Well, this is the Uzushiogakure symbol and that of my clan, so seeing as neither really exist any more and the Uzumaki are now a Konoha clan Jiji said I can wear it as long as I don't go around saying I'm gonna revive Uzu" he said with a laugh " And the red, well red is the official colour of the Uzumaki so I thought I'd wear it" He finished of looking back at Kakashi.

"Hm, well if the Hokage says it's alright then I suppose I can allow it. Now moving on, I'm sure you all thought about what Naruto and I said yesterday. Today is your genin test, if you fail you go back to the academy, if you pass you become genin, simple" Kakashi said looking at the others, Sakura looked worried, Sasuke looked indifferent and Naruto looked excited. " The test will be simple" he said placing a clock on a log" you have until this alarm goes at midday to get these bells off of me any way you see fit. If you get one you pass, if you don't...well back to the academy for you" he said with an eye-smile.

"Ye, but there is only two bells. What about the third person, how do they pass" Sakura asked nervously.

Kakashi started laughing when he heard this, much to the confusion of the group. "That's just it, only two of you can pass. Now you have thirty seconds before I start the clock, have fun" he said walking up to the clock.

Instantly Naruto and Sasuke disappeared looking for a good hiding place and vantage point, Sakura stayed for a little while longer looking like she was about to argue but decided against it and went to hide.

Kakashi looked over the field as he started the clock, 'Well, it looks like they have the hiding part down, I wonder who'll attack first' he mused as he looked out towards the forest.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto sat in a tree close to the edge of the forest so that he could keep an eye on Kakashi and his team at the same time. So far Sakura and Sasuke had taken up some spots under a bush, whereas Kakashi was just standing out in the open. What was worse, was that he was openly reading a porn novel in broad day light. Naruto shudder at the fact his sensei was a pervert but decided to watch his sensei in case he made any sudden movements.

Suddenly Naruto saw Kakashi disappear and reappear behind an unknowing Sakura, Naruto thought he should warn her but decided to see how things played out.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sakura lay under the bush watching the area her sensei was, she decided she would let Sasuke take the first bell and then grab the second whilst the jounin was tired, before Naruto-baka could. Then hopefully Sasuke would recognise just how great she was and would ask her out on a date, and from there who knew what would happen!

But whilst she was day dreaming Sakura failed to notice that Kakashi had disappeared from the spot she was watching. That was until someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around Sakura couldn't help but to allow her eyes to widen as she saw her sensei two feet away from her, moments before the world disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"wow, she actually fell for it" Kakashi said moving back to his original position to hear Sakura scream moments later. " Hm, she should have at least been able to tell whether that genjutsu was real or not, according to her school report anyway" he stated before going back to his book.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto watched as Sakura fell pray to his sensei's low-level genjutsu and shook his head with a slight chuckle, "All of that talk about me being an idiot and you're the one who didn't have the brains to break out of one of the easiest genjutsu to possibly break out of".

He continued to watch Kakashi as he went back to the centre of the open field and started to read his smut, much to Naruto annoyance. Naruto was considering going down there to teach his sensei about what to and not do in public but was beaten to the punch as Sasuke appeared in front of Kakashi. "Well this should be interesting at the very least, show me what you've got, teme"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi flipped through another page as he read his book, but stopped to look up to see the new arrival; Sasuke. "Well what do you know, it's the Uchiha" Kakashi said in a bored tone that showed his total lack of interest.

"I'm not like the other two losers" Sasuke said in a matter of fact tone.

"Say that once you've got the bells and once you've actually seen Naruto do something" Kakashi said but quickly had to side step a set of shuriken.

Following up the shuriken, Sasuke quickly released a kunai that flew nowhere near Kakashi, but instead hit a hidden rope. 'A trap' Kakashi thought as he quickly dodged to the side to avoid the kunai that had been thrown from the trap, but as he did Sasuke was there to meet him with a kick to the chest, which h caught in one hand.

Sasuke seeing that his leg had been caught used this as a lever to throw a fist at Kakashi's face, but was yet again expertly caught. Sasuke quickly used both ligaments as leverage again to spin kick Kakashi to the face but was blocked once again. Sasuke though saw an opening to get the bells whilst Kakashi's hands were tied and threw himself forward to grab one, but only managed to touch it as Kakashi jumped away seeing the danger to the bell.

As both ninja came to land in a crouch. ' This kid is different, guess I can't read anymore porn', Kakashi thought although sadly, before preparing himself for the next assault.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Geez, Sasuke's actually doing good. Kami I hate that teme, although thanks to him I can see I'm no match for him in Taijutsu. Lets see what else they can do" Naruto said with a smirk as continued to watch events unfold.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

" I guess you were right, you're nothing like Sakura, although we are still yet to see Naruto participate" Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"Hn, forget about that dobe" Sasuke said before running through several hand seals and finishing on tiger.

Kakashi's eyes widened. 'What! A mere genin can't do that jutsu! It takes too much chakra!'

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fire Ball Jutsu)!**" Sasuke said before he sucked in a deep breath and blew out a blazing fireball, sending it crashing into Kakashi.

Once the jutsu ended Sasuke looked around to see Kakashi had escaped it and was nowhere in sight, 'Damn! How did he escape that and where is he? Left, no. Right, no. Behind me, no. That leaves...above!' Sasuke thought as he looked frantically in each direction until he looked up. But when he did Kakashi wasn't there, instead he was answered when the ground shook and a hand grabbed his ankle.

"Below." Kakashi said as he pulled Sasuke under until only his head remained above ground. "**Doton: Shinjuuzanshu no jutsu (Earth Release: Suicidal beheading)!**"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

'Wow, that fire jutsu was pretty decent. Although it's still hilarious to see Teme like that, right where he belongs. Well, I better get the others, seeing as I can't take this guy without, or with their help. But at least I'll have more chance of getting the bell with them' Naruto thought as he hopped of his branch towards the battlefield.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi walked over to the centre of the field again, every few minutes looking back towards his buried student. He had to sigh at the arrogance of the Uchiha, it truly was their biggest downfall. He only hopped it didn't cost the three students their spots as genin, but the way things were going seemed all too likely that it would. 'They've got talent, but they refuse to see that's meaningless in the face of unbeatable odds. Unless they team up that is' he thought with a sad smile. He was about to continue reading when he felt a presence in front of him, "Ah, I was wondering how long it would take you to show up. You going to attack me" Kakashi said putting his book away.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road to life, there's so many turns in the god damn thing, they should really put up sign posts. Hehehe, and yes, I am here to fight you" Naruto said dropping into a ready stance.

"Well I'm glad you seem to be such a good student, learning from me already" Kakashi said with an eye-smile. But he quickly dropped into a more serious manner "But, I'm afraid that's where this ends." as soon as he said that he quickly rolled out-of-the-way of some kunai that hit the tree behind him.

Coming up into a crouch he looked to see a kunai hit the floor in front of him, but was surprised to hear the sizzling that he so hated. "Shit! Explosive tag." he said springing backwards towards into some trees until he had to dodge several more projectiles.

"What's going on, you're not attacking me seriously... what are you planning?" Kakashi said to Naruto as he appeared a small distance away.

Naruto smiled at Kakashi's question and pointed to his side, when he looked round Kakashi was surprised to see all the trees surrounding him were covered in explosive tags. "Boom" Naruto said just before a large explosion rocked the earth.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Meanwhile)

"What do you want dobe?" Sasuke spat venomously as Naruto walked up to him with a smug smile.

"Well I've come to help the all mighty Uchiha, obviously" he said, his tone full of joy and laughter, much to the annoyance of Sasuke.

"I don't need your help, weakling" Sasuke said looking away.

"Okay" Naruto said before walking away.

Sasuke just looked at him dumbfounded as he walked away. "H-Hey! I thought you were getting me out of here, what's with the giving up straight away" He said furiously, he knew he couldn't get out without Naruto's help.

Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder with a victorious smirk, "I thought you didn't need my lowly help, _Uchiha-sama" _he said pouring as much sarcasm into his words as possible.

The Raven haired teen took a few calming breaths before answering, "Ok, I admit I need your help. But once I'm out of here I'll never need your help again, dobe"

"Man you know how to thank a guy, you know that. Anyway, I'll help you out as long as you do me a favour and listen to what I'm about to say, after that you can do what you want, 'Kay?" Naruto said looking down at Sasuke.

"I can accept that" he replied "Now say what you need to".

"I thought you might, now what do you think about this test? Don't you think it's impossible to beat, for a lone genin. Heck all three of us couldn't do it" Naruto said looking down at Sasuke as if he was a piece of evidence.

"...Yes, I think you're right, for once at least. But don't start getting any ideas that you're better than me dobe!" Sasuke said in his usual voice that radiated arrogant. 'Ah, I hate this. He's actually right about something I couldn't see, damn I hate that dobe!'.

"Wouldn't dream of it" Naruto replied dryly, 'geez, this guy really thinks he's Kami, man I'd like to beat him to a pulp whilst he can't move'. " Anyway, that's not important. What is, is that I think we should work together, me, you and Sakura. Because if we can't beat him on our own or together I say we at least make him remember who we are."

After Naruto finished Sasuke remained silent for several minutes. 'Hm, the dobe's right. If I can't win I might as well make sure I do as much damage as possible. But then there is the fact of working with HER, uh, but I guess I should'. "Fine, you've got me to play along. I'm not going down without a fight, after all I'm an Uchiha, I can't afford to be shown up by the likes of you. Now get me out of here and let's go get Sakura." Sasuke said begrudgingly before he heard a loud explosion that shook the earth that held him. "Dobe! What the hell was that".

"That was a little trap for Kakashi-sensei, now come on, let's go get Sakura" Naruto replied as he pulled Sasuke out of the ground and set of in Sakura's general direction.

Sasuke looked over in the general direction of the explosion seeing a large cloud of smoke,_'_ '_little trap' _what the hell does he consider a large one?' he thought before following Naruto.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi stood inside of a field of destroyed trees, many on fire and many more blown away. 'Wow, overkill on the explosive tags much. Its lucky I used **Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) **before the explosion hit, I would have been toast otherwise, he. But the question is why the distraction' Kakashi thought coming to the conclusion of why it was Naruto had been staying out of his range. 'It had to be a distraction, but why...Of course! He's going after the others, hm this is getting interesting. Maybe I should go wait for them where we started' Kakashi mused with a smile hidden below his mask as he set out.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Several minutes after Naruto and Sasuke had freed Sakura from the genjutsu, and after her ranting about how her 'beloved Sasuke-kun' was alive and how it was all 'Naruto-baka's' fault, the makeshift team sat on separate branches.

"You know the plan, let's go" Naruto said and without a second thought headed out.

"Stop acting like the leader Naruto-baka, that's Sasuke-kun's job" he heard the tell-tale screech that could only be Sakura, followed shortly by a 'Hn' that could only be Sasuke.

Naruto just smirked as he started to reach the open field they had started at, and with Kakashi standing in the middle of the open field reading his smut. "Looks like I might get a chance to get you out of that habit sensei" Naruto said to himself just before he landed in the clearing, Sakura and Sasuke appearing slightly later.

"Well, well. I guess I should thank you for saving me the time of looking for you, so now you can all fail together" Kakashi said looking up from his book as he put it into his kunai pouch. " Shall we get this party started"

"I was about to suggest the same thing, but you better be careful. If we're going to fail we're going to sure as hell make you sorry you failed us" Naruto said with a smirk as he pushed of to attack Kakashi, whilst pulling out the scroll that had his sword sealed into it, head on whilst Sakura and Sasuke ran in a large circle around him and threw some kunai at his sides.

Quickly pulling out a Kunai, Kakashi deflected the projectiles thrown at him before turning to Naruto and blocking a vicious sword strike aiming to spit him from head to toe. "Ah, I see you had a sword hidden on you. Lets see what you can do with it" Kakashi said before going into a series of blows against Naruto. He pushed Naruto with little amounts of speed and power, but he still managed to hold him off. " I see you can handle Novice level Kenjutsu, let's try Intermediate" Kakashi said but quickly jumped out-of-the-way of several more Kunai, which he deftly deflected before jumping back.

"Hm, you doing okay Kakashi-sensei, you seem to be having difficulty" Naruto said with a smirk, "Sasuke" as Naruto said his name Sasuke jumped in to fight Kakashi as Naruto jumped out towards the place Sasuke had been.

Kakashi blocked several punches and kicks from Sasuke as he observed the teamwork that had suddenly appeared. Dodging several more Kunai, Kakashi looked at the three genin with a hidden smirk. "Clever, you're hoping to switch who fights me and who acts as long-range support hoping to tire me out. Clever, but not going to work as I can last another several hours like this and I'm sure you can't" Kakashi said as he blocked a spin kick from Sasuke to his head.

Sasuke stood there for a second with his back to Kakashi before turning around to show his hand on the tiger seal 'Shit if that hits me at point-blank I'm a goner' Kakashi thought as he desperately started jumping backwards to get some room to avoid the jutsu.

"**Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix flower Jutsu)!**" Sasuke shouted just before firing at about a dozen head-sized fireballs.

Kakashi quickly wove in and out of the jutsu but had to quickly jump back to the centre of the field as some shuriken followed in the cover of the flames. Once he did he looked round himself to see he was encircled by the three genin-to-be. "Well done so far, but you don't think that will be all it takes to defeat me" Kakashi said as he stared at what he knew would be his future team.

"Hn, like you'd go down so easy. But like we said, we're going out with a bang at least." As Sasuke finished he ran through several hand seals.

Kakashi saw Sasuke starting to go through the hand seal and was shocked 'How much more chakra does Sasuke have, this must be a last ditched attempt' he thought and then turned to see Naruto doing some hand seals as well. 'Shit, I've seen that before. I need to get off of the ground, now' he thought this as he was forced to deflect three shuriken from Sakura, but was surprised to hear a popping noise as they were deflected behind him. Quickly turning Kakashi saw three shadow clones exit the **Henge** that they'd been in; the shuriken. Once out of the **Henge** the clones started off a fast and vicious attack, much to Kakashi's annoyance. Quickly blocking their ferocious attacks Kakashi was about to dispel them but was forced to jump backwards as he heard the distinctive roar of fire from one side and the crackle of lightning from the other.

As he landed he looked to see Sasuke's **Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu **fly past where he had been, tearing up the ground in the process before it dissipated into nothingness. He also saw Naruto's **Raiton: Jibashi**** (Lightning release: Electromagnetic murder) **crackle and jump as the lightning it produced shot through the ground until it stopped where he had been.

Kakashi looked at his three soon to be students as the ring of the bell for the end of the session went of, clapping he said "Well done, you done far better than I could have hoped. But as you know you haven't got the bells...so you fail." But was confused when he saw all three of them smile, " What? I miss something?" the silver-haired shinobi said before looking to see the bells in Naruto's hand.

"Actually, we pass, _Sensei" _Naruto said placing extra emphasis on the word sensei.

"You got them with the clones when I had to evade that Raiton and Katon jutsu of yours, didn't you" Kakashi said with a smirk. 'Well there is a surprise. No team has ever got the bells before, Kurenai and Asuma are gonna love this when I say a bunch of genin beat my test' he thought with a chuckle. 'But it's time to see if they can pass the real test', "Well you did, so two of you can pass. Decide amongst yourselves who that is" he said with a grin hidden below his mask.

Naruto just started laughing when he heard that, much to Kakashi's confusion. That was until Naruto pulled out a red and orange book and held it up " Like I said, we all pass. Either that or I get to blow the book to pieces" Naruto said sticking an explosive tag to it. " I had a little talk with jiji and asked him what you were like, mainly because you refused to tell us. But he mostly said your most treasured possession was this book, so what will it be?"

Everyone had to sweat drop as they saw their soon to be sensei drop to his knees and start crying "You pass! You pass! Just don't hurt precious" he shouted with a slightly garbled voice when he said: precious.

"that's fine with me, catch" Naruto said as he threw the smut book away, glad to be free of the filth. Turning to his new team members he looked at them with a huge grin, "Told ya it'd work" he said with a laugh, "I mean I knew he was a pervert, but that's a little scary"

"Hn, like I care. I could have done it without you if need be. It was just easier this way" Sasuke said before walking away with Sakura in tow begging for a date.

"I've said it many times before, and I'm sure this won't be the last time. But Kami I hate that guy" Naruto said shaking his head as he walked away, deciding to go get some ramen as a celebration, leaving the crying ninja to his 'precious' smut.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that day Naruto was walking back from the ramen stand after celebrating with Ayeme and old man Tsuchi. Both of them had been ecstatic at the news that Naruto had passed and told him they always knew he could do it, and after several bowls of ramen bid him a good night as he told them he was going home.

Naruto kept walking down the now empty streets wondering what it would be like to be a genin, a ninja. His whole life he had dreamed of this moment and now it was here, but he didn't know what to do now that he had. Jump up and down and shout at the top of his lungs, no he had left the life of a total fool behind. But that didn't mean he didn't want to do something fun, but what? In the end he decided that he would head home and have a read of the scrolls that had been given to him. Last night he had only been able to read 'The history and teachings of Uzushiogakure', which had mainly been about the ideals of the people of Uzu and seemed to constantly drag up quotes, sayings or poems about how love and peace conquers all. But tonight he'd get dug into the other things, the good stuff. Or so he hoped.

Several more minutes of walking and he arrived within his apartment, setting down his bag of take away ramen, he walked over to a desk that had his scrolls spread out across them. Looking through them he saw the jutsu and was about to have a read of them, but stopped when he saw the black scroll.

Now that he took the time to really pay attention to it he realised it was far to large to be containing anything small like weapons, clothes or items. It was about the size of a large infant. His curiosity peeked, Naruto walked over to it and partially unravelled it. What he saw inside only seemed to further his interest, as all he saw was a large, blood-red crest for the Uzumaki.

This confused Naruto, was it just a crest? No, it couldn't be, why such a large scroll for just a crest. But then Naruto remembered what the old Hokage had said, that to read it he would need the Uzumaki blood. So, he done what he usually did and acted on impulse,. Quickly grabbing the nearest kunai, Naruto cut his finger and let some of his blood flow onto the paper.

What happened next surprised and interested Naruto. The blood hit the crest dead centre and once that happened the crest seemed to turn into liquid blood, next the blood moved around for a few seconds before finishing in a totally different place as to where it started. It had created a row of columns with a paw print at the top and bottom. Furthermore the paws seemed to be imprinted in blood, but he didn't understand why. Maybe it was some sort of animal paw print recognition thing, like if this paw matches then it's this animal. But the only problem was it didn't say what animal had made the paw print, but instead the columns were filled with loads of different names. Each name filled one column and was written in blood. Naruto also spotted that several names ended in the name of Uzumaki, but why? Why would his now dead clansmen sign their name in blood on a piece of paper?

Sighing, Naruto decided to completely unravel the scroll, which when done showed about another 30 to 40 names. These names were also predominately Uzumaki as well, but the main focus of Naruto's attention was on the five hand seals at the end and a description. This description read:

_To perform __**Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning jutsu)**__ you must first sign your name in blood on this contract in the first empty column. Once done you will now be able to summon, to do this bite the hand you used to write your name in, then run through the necessary hand seals, which are Boar-Dog-Bird-Monkey-Ram and once that is done slam the hand onto the ground and call the name of this technique. Whilst doing this supply a proportional amount of chakra (If right amount not known supply all possible chakra) and create the image of the wild cat you wish to summon, I.e lion, cheetah, tiger, leopard, sphinx, saber tooth, lynx or panther. When all these instructions are followed you should summon any one of previously stated cats. Good luck and welcome as a summoner of the wild cats._

For several minutes Naruto sat there slack-jawed as he read and reread the scroll to make sure that what he had read was real. And after several more attempts at trying to dispel a genjutsu that was not there, gave up a started jumping up and down in joy.

"Yes! I have a summoning contract. Woo hoo." He shouted as he pumped his fist in the air several more times before sitting down.

Once he was over the shock that he was in the possession of a contract Naruto decided to sign it, his only thoughts being 'why not?'. Quickly pulling the scroll over to him he wound it back up and signed his name in the first open column with the blood from his right thumb, when that was done he walked to the centre of the living room/dining room and started to go through the hand seals.

"I,Inu,Tori,Saru,U" Naruto chanted the names of the seals as he formed them before slamming his right hand onto the floor, which a seal then spread out from and onto the floor. "**Kuchiyose No Jutsu**" Naruto shouted and pumped about two-thirds of his chakra into the jutsu just as a large cloud of smoke enveloped the room, causing Naruto to cough.

"Gah! What the hell is this smoke for?" Naruto said before coughing some more as he waved his arms around to clear the smoke.

"My, My. Who has summoned me, they must be very strong and brave either way. That or very foolish." Came the deep rumble from within the cloud of smoke, the voice itself made Naruto take a step back from the cloud.

"Agh, a lion?" Naruto yelled, now thinking this may have been a bad idea. And took another couple of steps back as he set his eyes open the Golden coated lion that was now laying in the middle of Naruto's flat. It was roughly seven foot in length and looked nearly four-foot tall, it had broad shoulders and back, with a strong muscled body that showed even as it laid down on his floor. Furthermore his fur coat was immaculate and his mane was a golden brown that went perfectly with his golden fur. His claws and fangs looked as though they could tear through anything like they were wet paper and his eyes seemed to be slightly amused whilst looking as though they could kill just as well as the teeth and claws. Even knowing what he was trying to summon when he saw the feral grin of the loin as it showed its great canines, Naruto couldn't help but to feel a tremor of rear course through his body.

"Agh,an idiot! Where is my summoner, boy! Or was it you, I wonder? I definitely hope it wasn't" the lion's deep voice boomed in a lazy drool through Naruto's flat as it raised an eyebrow at the slowly retreating form of said boy.

Naruto gulped down his fear and quickly mastered himself, "Umm, that would be me, Naruto Uzumaki, Mr...John?" He said hopefully trying to guess the right name, but knew he had got it wrong as he heard the lion chuckle.

"Boy, I'll give 3 points for humor and four for being able to talk to me without pissing your pants. And no my name is not John, if it was I would most likely change it or kill myself. My name is Nemeaus, the Lion of the impervious fur. My only question for you though, boy, is how did you manage to summon me and look as if you still have chakra to spare. It usually takes someone with jounin level chakra to do that and I can't see you being a jounin yet, so answer me" Nemeaus said as he looked at Naruto whilst resting his head on his paws.

"Well I come from a clan that is known for large reservoirs of chakra, which mine is; with it being around that of a high chunin to low jounin. But, umm" Naruto said as he looked at the lion, "are you my summon, or will I get a different lion every time I use this jutsu?"

Nemeaus just chuckled once more and showed a toothy grin, "Boy, I am not the only wild cat summon there is, there is others, but you can summon me again. In fact it should be easy, now that you know exactly how much chakra it costs to summon me and that you've also seen me. Next time just use the same amount of chakra and picture me, and I will come. But know that if you summon me and there isn't a battle to be fought I at least expect a payment of some game, rabbits, deer and similar things. Now I really must be off, things to hunt, things to kill, and then eat. You know how it is" He said as his tongue came across his lips before he disappeared in another puff of smoke

" urgh, damn smoke. I hope I don't have to actually hunt for him, I mean how much food would it take to satisfy him anyway?" Naruto said before heading towards the kitchen to reheat some more noodles for his ramen. "He,he. That can all wait until I've finished my Ramen at least anyway".

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(2 Weeks later) – Konohagakure training field 7

Naruto sat cross-legged in a meditative position as he sorted through his newly collected memories. His first group of clones had now been able to levitate 3 leaves on each hand at the same time, and a cocky clone had even managed to levitate one from his nose whilst doing two on each hand. Much to his own amusement. His second group had just about mastered handwriting, meaning he could now begin his fuinjutsu lessons with Kakashi-sensei or jiji. Furthermore his other clones had taken his kenjutsu and taijutsu test and had found in both he had completed the intermediate phase of his learning and was now capable of moving on to expert level techniques in both, but had decided to keep practising his kata, stances and swings until he had completely mastered this level and not just passed it.

Smiling to himself he stood and decided to go do some physical training, and to ask Kakashi-sensei something. Today had been a training day for team 7 and Kakashi had allowed Naruto to go of and do his own thing whilst he trained Sakura and Sasuke, but it had confused Naruto as to why Kakashi had allowed him to do his own training. Shouldn't a teacher always maintain, moderate and monitor their pupils training. But then again Kakashi was no ordinary sensei, so Naruto just shrugged it of and went to head back to his team.

"Hey dobe! I thought you were training, I guess that was to hard for you." turning Naruto saw Sasuke walking out of a group of trees with a smug look on his face.

"Oh look, it's a rare species of teme. This ones none to have a rather large number of poles stored up its arse and has the characteristics of a homosexual" Naruto said as if talking to a large group of people on a bird watching tour. He also smiled when he saw a large tick mark appear on Sasuke's head, "Anyway, I was training, I just finished"

Sasuke snorted derisively and looked at him as some piece of evidence, "You expect me to believe that when you're not even sweating, what do you take me for dobe. I'm an Uchiha not some common fool."

"It may be true that my body didn't train, but my clones did" Naruto said in a matter of fact tone that grated on Sasuke's nerves.

"And what would that do dobe, clones can train but in the end they dispel and new ones are created and would have to start all over again. And I was starting to think you were no longer an idiot, maybe I was wrong." Sasuke replied with a short chuckle.

"Ye, ye laugh it up teme. Because you don't seem to understand what I'm saying. My clones aren't training themselves, they're training me. What ever my shadow clone learns, I learn. That's the secret that makes the shadow clones such a good tool for me." Naruto said as he started walking towards Sasuke.

'What! He learns what they learn, how is that possible? It doesn't matter, they would be the perfect tool to supplement my training for killing Itachi, I must have it' he thought as he looked at the approaching form of Naruto. "Dobe! Teach me that technique" Sasuke hissed as Naruto neared him.

Naruto laughed as he heard Sasuke 'ask' him to teach him the shadow clone technique. Looking up he saw Sasuke with his fist clenched at his side and a look of anger on his face, "No, I won't teach you it. Firstly, why should I. Secondly, try asking instead of demanding, you act as if you have the right and actually deserve shadow clone. But you don't, so take a hike. Now, why did you come here?" Naruto said loving the rage that now plastered Sasuke's face.

Sasuke clenched his fist for several more seconds before calming down, "Hn, like I even need it. The Uchiha wouldn't use a jutsu used by a weakling like yourself. But to answer your question, Kakashi-sensei sent me to collect you. He said something about another mission" as he finished he turned and left to go back to where team 7 usually met.

Holding in a groan for another detestable D-ranked mission Naruto decided to head back to the meeting place, albeit very,very slowly. After another fifteen minutes Naruto arrived in the clearing where the team met and quickly dodged a vicious swipe from Sakura.

"You're late!" Came the screeching monster that was known as Sakura.

"Ah, don't hurt me, please" Naruto mocked in a childish voice as he ducked another swing from Sakura, but she stopped when their sensei spoke.

"Enough Sakura. But she is right Naruto, what took you so long?" Kakashi said looking at his student.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed, "Well, you see there was this chick that had fell from a tree, so I decided to put it back in its nest. But when I climbed the tree I found a broken bird nest and decided to build it a new one so that it would be safe." He said with a small chuckle, but had to duck another swing from the pinkette.

"That was worse than Kakashi-sensei's excuses, idiot!" Sakura said holding up a threatening fist, but stopped at the sound of crying. Turning they all saw Kakashi with tears in his eye.

"Wonderful! Naruto, you are truly the perfect student" He said with an eye smile, which caused everyone to sweat-drop. But quickly went back to his casual serious demeanour again " Anyway, I've called you all here to tell you we're getting another mission." he said but was met with universal groans.

"Sensei, can't we do a C-rank now. I mean we have done the minimum D-ranks to apply for a C, so why not move us on to more difficult stuff" Naruto complained in a whiney voice.

Hearing this Kakashi looked at his team with a thoughtful expression, "Do you two agree with Naruto?" Kakashi asked and received to yes' from them. Sighing he turned to walk towards the Hokage tower, "Fine, if that's what you want. I also believe you're ready, so let's get going. Our first C-rank awaits us after all".

Upon hearing this there was three very similar but different thoughts and one very different one.

'Yes! My first C-rank, I hope it's more fun then that crappy set of D-ranks we got, because if I have to chase that cat one more time I'm gonna stitch it to its owner'

'Yes, one more step towards killing Itachi. I can start to really improve now. Just you wait brother, the day I kill you is fast approaching'

'Finally my chance to prove I'm worth Sasuke's time, after this mission he will definitely date me'

'Great a proper mission, that means more work and supervision for me and less Icha Icha. But I guess it can't be all that bad, what's the worst that could happen after all'.

* * *

Well that's a rap for this chapter.

Next release will be the mission to wave country to protect the bridge I do it though any opinions on whether or not to save Haku or kill her.

Also just to let you know I'm gonna be releasing two chapters this week as a christmas bonus, but after that its one a week.

See you next chapter, and as always reviews are very much appreciated.


	5. Puddles mean trouble

**Thanks for the reviews of:**

**Kyuubi Gohan, Anarion, Dayfox, **

**The tiger of the west, Neither can I, they will be amazing to write. Plus I have a surprise for the chuunin exams, and lastly, yes he will meet Karin.**

**Sabery, no can do, Haku is Yuki clan related by mother and has a parent father, so no Uzumaki possible relation. Plus her physical description does not match.**

**Dragonskyt, that is a hilarious idea ,mate. But I dont think I could put it in now, it would have been best as his first summons instead of Nemeaus.**

**Macilnar, I know mate, but I cant just tell him who his parents are now. To much at one point is bad, plus that leaves avenues open for the future. And lastly his choice is not to do with enemies backing up due to his age, but the fact that he should be strong enough to look after himself.**

**Rikoudo Naruto, brilliant review mate. Like the ideas, they were all spectacular. Especially the anti Uzumaki clan, Because ive been looking for an idea for an extra enemy group to go against Naruto and you just gave it to me. When they pop up i'll remember to put some credit in for you. Also liking the last two ideas, :)**

* * *

(Konoha council room)

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his purple cushioned throne-like chair as he looked over the squabbling council. To his right, in order going further away, sat Koharu Utatane, Choza Akamichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Shibi Aburame, Hiashi Hyuga, Tsume Inuzuka and the commander of the ANBU; making the shinobi wing of the village council. And to his left, the civilian wing, sat a wide variety of, what Hiruzen thought, obnoxious fools who couldn't organise a piss up in a tavern.

Currently the civilian wing were once again trying to get some permanent bodyguards for their stores from Konoha's pool of shinobi reserves. The fools didn't understand that to take men out of the reserve pool would mean stopping some active ninja and placing them into the reserves to fill the blanks. But, if this was done less missions would be completed and accepted and that would lead to less money being brought into the village. Furthermore to accept less missions could be seen as a sign of weakness from other countries and could lead to war, also they could lose valuable clients to other countries for turning them down. No, this could not be done, but these fools just could not see that. And it was starting to get on the Sandaime's nerves.

"But it would stop any of our trades from being attacked and stolen from, our money supplies would then increase. And it makes use of the useless shinobi that are just lying around anyway" Kou Sozo, a big time food merchant in the land of fire, shouted across the hall. "Why don't you useless shinobi actually do something!"

"Enough you fools!" Hiruzen shouted making more than one of the shinobi council flinch along with the civilians. "Do not dare slander the people who protect your homes and lives. If you want to know why, and for the 100th time, we can't take shinobi from the reserve pool, it is because if we did we would have to replace the missing shinobi with active shinobi. And once we do that we can't take on as many missions and that means we have to decline some. Once we do this we will not only lose money, we will lose important clients who will then take their missions to other countries. This will in turn lead to them gaining strength and money whilst we grow weak and poor, and when that happens other countries will seek to exploit our weaknesses and attempt to destroy Konoha! So, no we can't protect your food, Kou. Unless of course you are willing to pay for a mission to protect your food." Hiruzen said with a look that clearly showed Kou he was being an idiot.

Sighing Hiruzen looked at the council before deciding that he should let the council know of his plans, "Is there anything else to discuss today?" he said and only received the shaking of heads. "Good, then let me bring us to our final two topics. First of all Naruto has just received his clan inheritance and will soon become clan head, which is also when I plan on making the Uzumaki an official clan of Konoha and not just a friend" As soon as he finished Hiruzen received the shouts of protests he had imagined, although all came from the civilian side.

"What? You can't possibly be thinking of giving the fox demon a clan, he's not even human!" shouted an irate Mebuki Haruno.

"Yes, I have to agree Hokage-sama. Why should this boy get clan status, for what reason and what can he even bring to Konoha." Kou joined in.

"I find Kou's point valid Hokage-sama, although Haruno-san is just being a biased fool." Tsume said with an almost feral snarl as she looked at Mebuki, who snorted pointed a finger at the clan head.

"How dare you call me a fool, it is you who plays the act of fool here. You are the ones who would protect that fox whilst I seek to protect the people by seeing that he is put down before he becomes a danger to us all" Mebuki spat as she made her opinion clear, her dislike for the child was evident.

"SILENCE!" Came the harsh voice of the Hokage once again stilling the room to silence. "I won't have you talk about Naruto-kun like that, I know the boy personally and he is no demon. He is a child who has had to grow up on his on without any family or even an orphanage. On top of that he has been ostracised and hated by his own village, yet he remains one of the kindest people I have ever met! It is monsters like you, Mebuki, whom attack a child who bares a great burden instead of helping him. Tell me what would you do if it had been Sakura that the Kyuubi had been sealed into instead of Naruto, would you still try to kill her?" Hiruzen said looking at the woman in question, who was now very silent and still. Obviously she had been quite shocked at the Hokage's harsh words and so had many of the council members. But, some had expected them seeing as it was common knowledge that the Hokage saw Naruto as a grandson.

Mebuki looked like a woman who had just been struck by lightning, no longer was she sitting proud and defiant, but small and defeated. "I-I...I...I can't answer that question Hokage-sama" Mebuki said before slumping into her seat.

Hiruzen just nodded before looking over the council again. "Very well, but next time choose your words more carefully. Now I will tell you the reasons for my decision. First of all the Uzumaki are already a clan in their own right in what was once Uzushiogakure, but now that it has been destroyed Naruto is the last known remaining member. Furthermore the Uzumaki have always been very close friends of Konoha, as our village symbol shows with part of it being the crest of the Uzumaki. What's more is that they are also descendants and relatives of the Senju, our founding and greatest clan, for this reason alone they should be a clan. Also there is the fact of the Uzumakis natural affinity to seals, innate massive supplies of chakra and their long lives. These are all clan specific qualities and are akin to a bloodline limit that grants them the right to become a clan under Konoha clan law: section 1: Article 1.3. And lastly Naruto is in possession of all of Uzushiogakure's jutsu and fuinjutsu that were left to him in his inheritance, and if he allows some of that knowledge to be passed on to Konoha it could strengthen us significantly".

Once the Hokage had finished there was a great silence as everyone pondered what they had just been told, as there was much to think about. For one Konoha would gain a facsimile of sorts to the Senju clan, the founders and royalty-of-sorts of Konoha. No longer would they have to rely on the slim chance that Tsunade would have a child, now they would be able to start again with another person who had more chance to reproduce then she ever does. Another factor was the jutsu and fuinjutsu that Konoha would gain, it was a well-known fact that the Uzumaki's fuinjutsu was second to none. Not just second to none but so far better that they were considered untouchable in that department. The things they could do with seals was what other people considered impossible, and their jutsu were not to be taken lightly, all in all the knowledge they could gain was vast.

"May I ask a question, Hokage-sama." Koharu said leaning forward, gaining the councils attention.

"You may, Koharu" was Hiruzen's curt response that showed no reaction, but inside he was instantly wary and on guard as Koharu was a very clever and subtle person, and not to be taken lightly.

"Thank you. My question is why didn't we know that Konoha was in possession of these jutsu that could strengthen Konoha so" she said before looking round to the council. "Because as you know it is Konoha law that if Konoha should come into any information, which in this case is justu, that could aid or be detrimental to Konoha's strength and stability, it should be shared with the council to best decide the course of action to take with it. So, why haven't you told us" once she finished she got many nods of approval from the councilmen and women.

Taking a breath she decided to further hit her point home, "Furthermore why have you given them all to this child and not to Konoha. Now we rely on whether or not he is willing to give us anything, and he will no doubt keep some of it. If you had kept those scrolls then we wouldn't be in this situation and Konoha would have the information that made the Uzumaki the most feared clan in the world, and then that would truly strengthen our title of 'the strongest country'." As she finished she could once again see that most of the chamber was in agreement with her. 'Good, now we can pass a vote and take that information from that damnable child. This will strengthen Konoha greatly' she thought with a reserved smile.

Hiruzen looked over the council and could see he had already lost the majority vote, but, much to some people's confusion, smiled anyway. "That is all true, Koharu. Well, except for the information being given to Konoha, because if it was you are right, I would have to bring it to the council. But, you see Konoha never received information, the Sarutobi clan did. It was given to us as a gift by the last head of the Uzumaki clan, and as you know all clans have the right to exchange things and not be susceptible to Konoha law due to the Konoha clan law charter that states we all have the right to privacy and anything we own is not considered property of Konoha, but of the clan in possession. So, you see this has now all been given back to its rightful owner through the legal channels, and you can't touch it" said informing them all of the way this was done, and said the last more as a threat that most understood clearly. Seeing all council members slowly back down from this Hiruzen smiled before standing up.

"One last thing, as you all know, in Minato Namikaze's will I was left the Namikaze complex, possessions and assets to do with as I please. So, you should have no problems, or should I say no choice but to accept, that I have decided to give the clan complex to the Uzumaki instead of building a new one. Good day" Hiruzen said with a smile on his face as he walked out of the door to a loud chorus of shouts and protests. 'Let them eat that down, it feels liberating to finally get back at them for trying to hurt Naruto-kun so much' he thought as he walked towards the Hokage tower, 'Now all that's left is to clear out all of Minato's things and clean the place up a bit before I give it to Naruto, it'll take a while, but I think he'll like it'.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Hokage tower)

As team seven walked up to the doors to the Hokage tower there was a lot of anticipation in what was about done as they were on their way to gather their first C-rank mission. Although each team member was anticipating this mission for their own various reasons.

Walking up to the Hokage's assistant's desk, Kakashi placed down his team identification badge. "Team seven to collect a mission" he said knowing this formality was only in place for safety measures and quickly walked through the Hokage's door.

Looking up from his paperwork the old Hokage saw team Kakashi standing to attention, "Ah, Kakashi-kun, Naruto-kun. What brings you and your team here today. Another D-rank, let me just get that for you" he said pulling open his draw that contained his D-rank missions, but stopped at Kakashi's abrupt cough.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but we are in fact here for our first C-rank mission today" Kakashi informed the old man.

Looking up Hiruzen intwined his fingers and rested his chin on them, "Are you sure about this Kakashi-kun?" he asked questioningly with a raised eyebrow to show his disbelief.

"Very, Hokage-sama. As you know my team has done the minimum amount of D-ranks to apply for a C-rank. I also strongly believe they are ready for this as they are all coming along individually and as a team" Kakashi confirmed.

For a few minutes the Hokage sat there silently, before sighing and reaching for a C-rank scroll and throwing it to Kakashi. "Very well, your mission will be to guard a bridge builder from water country from any possible threats, such as highwaymen and the such. Now I think it's best you meet your client." he said with a smile before turning to look at the door and shouting, "Bring him in".

As he said this the door behind team seven slowly opened to show an old age man holding a bottle of saké in each hand. As the man walked in he looked with an appraising expression at the group of genin, before his face suddenly turned sour and he looked at the Hokage. "What the hell is this! I pay good money and get a bunch of weak children, what do you take me for, an idiot?" he said with a slight drool and slosh of his sake.

"Now, now Tazuna-san, I assure you this team of individuals are more than adequate for your needs. Plus if they can't handle anything their sensei, Kakashi-kun there, can handle it as he is a high-ranking jounin and experienced veteran of war" the Hokage said trying to placate the client, although he was a little annoyed at his remarks.

Kakashi just gave his usual eye-smile and light-hearted wave, "Hello Tazuna-san, It's good to meet you. When do you plan to leave?" he questioned hoping to get this show on the road.

Tazuna grunted and turned to leave, "2 hours at the East gate, be there" he said before leaving through the door.

Turning to his team Kakashi smiled and said "Well team, you heard him, you have to hours to get ready and meet me at the east gate." and finished by disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Great, let's play guard the drunk. Kami I think I'm gonna like this guy less than you, teme" Naruto said as he walked out the door.

"Whatever Dobe, just be there and don't embarrass us" Sasuke said before leaving to get ready, as did Naruto and Sakura.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(East gate)

Team 7 and Tazuna stood outside of Konoha's east gate and were now getting ready to leave for the country of Wave. Kakashi stood there reading his novel as he asked, "Alright team 7, are you ready"

"Yes sensei" ,"You bet" and "Hn" were the three replies he got, but still found it hard to believe for one reason.

"Well, you say that Naruto, but where's your travelling kit?" He asked seeing that everyone sported a bag on their back that held all the things needed to live in the wild for a short period of time, except for Naruto.

"Yeah, don't tell me you forgot it you idiot" Sakura said throwing in her usual put down comment.

Sighing Naruto pulled a scroll out of his pouch before saying "kai", and as he did a bag full of the things Kakashi was looking for now appeared. Naruto then opened his Kunai pouch to show several other scrolls, "I store things in containment scrolls to save me the trouble of carrying them, in these are spare clothes, my sword, extra kunai and shuriken – and I mean extra as in a couple of hundred- medical supplies and all my training scrolls. I also use these so that I can carry more things and be better prepared for various situation. Also my training scroll seals are there so that even on mission I can continue learning, if the chance appears" Naruto said as everyone there went bug-eyed at the logic that Naruto was listing off.

"Nice work Naruto, that is a very thought through idea, and a useful one" Kakashi said now wondering why he wasn't doing this.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and held his hand out, "Ye, it's useful. But if you want I can store your bags in here as well" Naruto said and instantly had to catch three cumbersome bags.

After Naruto was done sealing the bags he created three clones and sent them off into the direction they were heading. This of course drew everyone's curious attention but was answered by Kakashi.

"He's sending them out to scout ahead, after all it was the reason the shadow clones were created, to become scouts" Kakashi said as he started walking of towards Wave. "I'm impressed you're taking this mission seriously Naruto, so far you have been very impressive today"

"Ye, all the books I'm reading generally say that no matter the mission it pays to be prepared. Now shall we get going" Naruto said as he set of at a sedate pace.

Sasuke just ignored them and walked up besides Naruto as they headed towards their destination.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Several hours from Konohagakure)

The group that was team 7 all walked in a comfortable silence as they trudged on, no one knowing what to talk about. So, they all just fell back on their own thoughts of what things might happen on the mission, things to expect, dangers they may face, people they may have to kill. To all young genin the last thought was one that sent a small shiver down all their backs, after all taking a life was no small feat. But as the silence wore on for a few hours Naruto grew more and more bored, until the point he was willing to start a conversation with Sasuke.

"So...Teme, what have you been training on lately. Anything special?" Naruto asked as he walked next to Sasuke.

"What's it to you, Dobe" Sasuke said, but was a little surprised that Naruto was opening a conversation with him.

"Nothing much, just trying to pas the time. Tell you what, tell me what you been training on and I'll tell you what I've been working on, deal" Naruto said blowing of Sasuke's earlier comment.

Sasuke was now intrigued and decided to accept. "Alright. I've been practising my fire jutsus, trying to make them more potent and cost less of my chakra. Whilst at the same time working to increase my chakra capacity and control through using it until it's empty. I've also been training in my family fighting style, interceptor fist. Although I still can't use it to its full capacity as it needs the Sharingan to be used properly. Well, that's me, dobe, now you". 'Maybe I'll find out what has changed you so much lately' he thought as the question had bugged him for the past two weeks.

Naruto couldn't help but think Sasuke's training was very similar to his own and smiled a bit before answering him. "Well, first of all do you remember what I told you about my clones?" he asked, referring to earlier on today.

"Ye, the thing about retaining their memories and learning what they learn" Sasuke said bitterly, still annoyed that the blond wouldn't teach him that jutsu.

"Ye, that's the one. Well I usually create a couple of hundred of them to split into groups that focus on different areas of my training. For instance I send out 40 to practice taijutsu, 40 for kenjutsu, 40 for ninjutsu, 40 for chakra control and 40 for basic knowledge – you know, just read some books on history, strategy and ninja stuff-. Recently I've mastered intermediate level taijutsu and kenjutsu, I've got down several jutsu, most of which are lightning or clone justu.

Also, my chakra control is at the point were I can now levitate three leaves on each hand and one on my nose simultaneously. Plus I've been practising this chakra control technique that requires me to channel chakra to the bottom of my feet to walk along objects.

And lastly my IQ is now 3 to 4 times higher than when I originally took the genin test. Meaning I could now ace it, most likely. But I also developed one really cool jutsu that really adds something to my list of awesomeness ..." Naruto said informing Sasuke about his training with a smile, but trailed of towards the end.

Sasuke walked and waited for Naruto to tell him what it was, "What is it dobe, or are you just bragging" he said but then saw the scowl appear on Naruto's face and knew it was something else.

"Have your clones found something Naruto" Kakashi said, who had listened in on the boys conversation and was admiring their training regimens.

"Yes, I found a puddle up ahead that's out-of-place. It's odd because from what I know it's near absolutely no water and it hasn't rained in several weeks. What should we do sensei" Naruto said looking at his teacher curiously.

"Hmm, dispel your other clones and don't tell the others. I want to see who these ninja – which they most likely are- target, as I have a small theory" Kakashi said before walking to the front of the group.

For several more minutes Naruto and Sasuke walked in silence, preparing for the fight up ahead, and weren't kept long. On the side of the road was a large puddle that was quite obvious and totally out-of-place, tensing the two genin continued to walk past it.

Shortly afterwards the team heard the loud clinking of a metal chain and turned to see two ninja wearing dark cloaks and clothes running at the team with a chain between them. As the two approached they quickly threw the barbed chain around Kakashi and pulled it tight, causing 'Kakashi' to be torn to pieces.

Sakura who was unaware of the previous talk between her team cried out for her 'fallen' sensei, "Kakashi-sensei!".

The two ninja getting over their kill quickly charged at the unsuspecting Tazuna, but were quickly intercepted by Naruto who used his sword to catch the chain tied between them and stop their charge. Thinking quickly they both circled round Naruto's back and tied him in the death chain, but were shocked to see him disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin!" they cried in unison.

Looking round they saw Sasuke jump in the air and throw several Kunai into the links of the chain and pinning it to the ground. The assailants, seeing that they couldn't remove the chain, detached from their weapon and ran around Sasuke and tried for a pincer attack on Tazuna once more.

But were surprised when they found themselves in the headlock of the jounin sensei and quickly found themselves unconscious, Kakashi then moved to restrain the two ninja by tying them to a tree.

Upon seeing her sensei was alright Sakura turned to see Naruto putting his sword away and Sasuke picking up his Kunai. 'Damn, I was useless. I couldn't even do anything, Naruto done more than I could' she thought sadly as she thought Sasuke's opinion of her might have dropped.

"Show off." Was all Sasuke said before placing his kunai in their pouch.

"So, sensei did you find out what you wanted to know?" Naruto asked as he walked next to Sasuke and looked at his teacher.

"Yes. Yes I did." Kakashi said but did not expand on his findings, but instead motioned to his two captives tied to the tree. "It'll be best to get the answer from them." He then walked over to his prisoners and took out a kunai.

"W-What are you doing" Tazuna asked as he watched Kakashi slap the two ninja awake.

"Hm. Me? Oh, I'm just going to find out why they attacked us, who they work for and any other potential threats" Kakashi said in a jovial, but some what menacing tone. "That is of course you happen to have remembered something you forgot to tell us" He said, but this time releasing a small amount of killer intent upon the nervous man.

"I-I... huh, very well I will tell you the whole story" Tazuna said as his shoulders dropped, making him look like a dead man walking.

"Good, I'm guessing that you are really being targeted by ninja, but didn't want to pay for an A to B-rank mission. Am I right?" Kakashi said as he stopped attempting to wake up the enemy ninja and stood to listen to what Tazuna had to say. The other members also gathered around Kakashi to hear this.

"Yes...Well, I guess I'm a dead man either way now. To know why I didn't tell you this, I would like you to bare in mind why I'm doing this as well." Tazuna said with a sigh as he looked at his protectors with a weary and tired gaze.

"Wave as you know is situated away from the mainland of the five great elemental nations, and because of this relies solely on its shipping industries and trades for its economic welfare. But recently an Evil man name Gato used his large company to buy out all of our shipping industries, and whoever controls the see and port trade controls Wave. So, once he had control over wave he used his power to squeeze us dry of money, through taxes and insanely increased prices, thus making us an extremely poor country on the brink of bankruptcy. Even the Diamyo is very poor." The team knew how bad it was when they heard the last, quite shocking, revelation. The Diamyo was supposed to be the ruler and financial leader of their country, so for him to be poor meant that Wave must have been in a terrible state.

"So, I resolved to build a bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland to help restore its economic stability, which is against Gatō's interest. I knew that Gatō would try to kill me, but couldn't afford proper protection. It was because of this that I hired you under the false pretence of protecting me from bandits so that the mission was considered a C-rank mission, thus reducing the cost. I did all this in the this in the hope to free The Land of Waves from the slavery that was forced upon us, and to give my family a chance a better life. But, I will understand if you turn around and leave me to my death...and Wave's...and my cute little grandson's, and my precious daughter's." Tazuna said with a sad smile, but with a twinkle in his eye that everyone missed.

Everyone knew that he was milking the guilt trip to the maximum, but they all knew he was right as well. Could they really leave a whole country to their deaths? No, they couldn't. And the worst thing was they all knew it and knew Tazuna knew it.

Kakashi looked to his team sheepishly whilst he rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, what do you think".

Naruto looked at Tazuna with a smile, "Of course I'll carry on, I wont let people suffer just because I was scared of a lil danger. After all I am a ninja. Believe it" he said with his almost like his old goofish self.

"Hn, can't be out classed by the dobe now, can we." Sasuke said not willing to admit he felt it was the right thing to do.

"Well, if Sasuke's in, then so am I" Sakura shouted happily as she thought of the good deed she was doing.

"Well, team 7 has spoken. It looks like we'll be staying with you Tazuna-san." Kakashi said with a text-book eye-smile.

"Thank you, thank you so much. Wave will always be in your debt" Tazuna said with a tear at the corner of his eyes.

"I know, I just hope it doesn't come back to hurt my team" Kakashi whispered under his breath as they turned to the two ninja. "Well, let's find out what they know".

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Team 7 along with Tazuna were now rowing across the water towards the shore of Wave country. After a small amount of 'encouragement' from Kakashi the-now-named 'Demon Brothers', missing ninja of Kirigakure, were working for Gato and were ordered to kill Tazuna. But, after some more coaxing they had also revealed that they were working for Zabuza Momoichi, one of the Seven Swordsmen of The Village Hidden in the Mist. Also an A-rank missing nin notorious for a failed coup de-tat and assassination attempt on the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura of the Three Tails.

After they had gathered the information from the brothers Kakashi had sent a messenger bird to Konoha telling them of the captured Nuke-nin and that he would leave them tied up for ANBU to gather.

But that was not what was worrying Kakashi. What was, was that the infamous 'Demon of The Bloody Mist' was what his students had to prepare for. Kakashi was fairly sure that he could beat the so-called demon, but knew that he would have some sort of back up that his genin would have to hold of. And whoever that was would probably be chunin or stronger, not good for his little team. Hopefully though, he could get in some last-minute training that would at least make them survive until he could help them.

"We're almost to the shore now, just through and past this bridge" Tazuna said as they passed under the large bridge.

"I can't believe an old drunk like you actually managed to build something like this" Naruto joked as he looked on a little awed at the massive structure.

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a complement, so I'll take it as both ya little shit" Tazuna said before taking a sip of saké.

"Quite ya bitching, it was a complement mixed with the truth" Naruto said with a smirk, knowing how Tazuna would react. And as if on cue...

"Why you little shit, stop acting all clever or I'll launch you off the top of my bridge" he said before sipping more sake, "Anyway, We're here" he said hopping of the boat and onto a wooden walk-way, closely followed by everyone else.

Heading towards the forest with team 7 Tazuna said "My home is just through this forest, should only be about an hour away".

Following, team 7 walked after the old bridge builder, but kept a close vigil of their surroundings, waiting for the inevitable appearance of the enemy nin. Shortly after they had left the 'Demon Brothers', team seven's sensei had told them to expect a confrontation shortly after arrival. As he expected that Zabuza was not one to wait around and do nothing, especially with the name 'Demon of the bloody mist'.

As they ventured further and further through the forest Kakashi got more and more nervous as he waited for Zabuza to make his appearance. 'Where the hell is he? He should have come to challenge us now that he knows his first team failed. Unless...' Kakashi had to sigh in annoyance 'he found out I'm leading this team. Damn, I was hoping to spring that one on him and gain a little advantage... ah-well, at least I can get some training in, and some rest. Hm, whilst I'm at it I might as well catch up on the latest Icha Icha Paradise' Kakashi thought now smirking at the perverse ideas he was having.

Naruto, realising what Kakashi's hidden smirk meant, shouted, "Oi! Stop thinking about your smut book, pervert!".

'uh... why do I have to teach these brats? …..Oh, right. I passed them. Why'd I do it again, I can't seem to recall' Kakashi thought as he saw a small house come in to sight. "Well team, it seems that Zabuza never showed up"

"I thought that was clear to everyone here, did you just figure" Naruto joked with his teacher.

"Yes, Naruto, I think I realised" Kakashi said as he walked towards the house, "Come on, I'll take it this is your house Tazuna-san".

"Yes, yes. When we get in I'll have my daughter make some food" he said as he walked towards his house. Everyone else quickly following at the prospect of some warm food and a roof to sit under.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A large man in combat trousers and no shirt with face raps covering his mouth and a large sword on his back looked down at two figures kneeling before him. Pointing his sword at the pair he spoke slowly but deadly, making the temperature seemingly drop; rapidly.

"Not only have you failed me, but you have also given information to the enemy. From what Haku tells me, you screamed like a pair of bitches. Ha! Demon Brothers, don't make me laugh. More like the puppy duet, the way you two howled people in Konoha probably heard it." the sword wielding figure said as he calmly placed their heads inside of the holes of his sword; his famous Executioners blade at work.

The Demon Brothers were sweating profusely, knowing they may well not make it out of this room alive. "U-Um, W-We could help in the battle. P-Please let us make it up to you, Zabuza-sama" Mizu said shakily.

Both men flinched slightly at the demonic smile that spread across Zabuza's masked face. "Hm, Haku could handle the little twerps on her own, but the help would make it far easier. Fine, you can live" He said lifting his sword just above their heads.

Both men sighed in relief as they knew they'd live now, but their breath caught when they saw him tense his sword arm again and look them straight into the eyes; a stare that could freeze mens blood. "But, if I ever have to send Haku to save your arses from enemies again, know this: there will be pain. For you at least, I'll just be having fun chopping you down a foot or two".

"Yes Zabuza-sama, we promise not to disappoint" The demon brothers said in unison, bowing low.

Zabuza chuckled at their pathetic attempt to placate him, if he wanted them dead their grovelling would not save them. Though Zabuza cut his laugh short as he heard his door open, and saw a fat little man with long white hair and glasses walk in.

"Zabuza, I thought I hired a competent shinobi. But here I am looking at a bunch of losers" the fat man declared.

Raising his sword once more and putting the tip of it under the mans chin, Zabuza said "I have not yet entered this fight, Gato. And you would do well to remember that before you slander my skills. But do not worry, one week from now they will be dead, little man"

"W-Well, just make sure it gets done" Gato said with a squeak before turning tail and leaving.

Stepping out of the shadows wearing a pinstriped outfit which stopped at her knees, over this she wore a green haori with white trimmings, around her waist a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped around her waist and a white porcelain mask over her face. "Zabuza-sama, what shall we do in the mean time?" she asked in a sweet feminine tone.

"Hn, always willing to serve, aren't we Haku? Anyway, I want you to spy on the genin team, find out anything that can be used against them and if they are bringing in reinforcements. Got it?" Zabuza said as he sat down, "And for goodness sake, remove your mask. There's no need for it"

"Hai, Zabuza-sama. I shall not fail you" Haku said as she removed her mask to reveal the young and beautiful face of a 14-year-old girl. 'I will not let you down Zabuza-sama, even if it costs me my life'.

* * *

Well, there you have it. one of two of this weeks installments, I hope you enjoyed.


	6. Preparations

**ElektrikRage: Well, someone knows their mythological history. It's not one of those it fits here, it's just me feeding my mythological history addicted side. Plus, have seen it's abilities, awesome. **

**Agnar: well, he had to carry on with the mission so couldn't wait. Plus if they are kept alive they can be questioned for knowledge or special jutsu they have.**

**Macilnar: Not 'Anti', more of an "I've got i problem with you guys due to so and so war", revenge that old cliche.**

**Rikodou Sennin: thanks. First of all I will only add (and this is possibly) Karin into the clan due her being an actual Uzumaki. I'll still have hinata all in love with Naruto but I most likely wont pair them. As for arcs I'm still deciding which ones to and not to do. And lastly Danzo will play shadowy parts in Part 2 mainly.**

**And lastly to all who liked the Sandaime x council scene, I'm glad you like it cus I see him as a really powerful and 'not-to-be-fucked-with' type of guy.**

* * *

**Preparations**

(Near Tazuna's Household – forest)

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we doing out here?" Sakura asked as she looked around at forest they were currently situated in.

"Well, training. If you're going to have a snowball's chance in hell of holding of Zabuza and any goons he brings, I'm going to have to put you through some rigourous training" Kakashi said with a patent eye-smile.

"Um, and what would that be" Naruto asked just as miffed as the others.

Kakashi seemed to smile all the more before pointing to the tree, "You are going to increase your chakra control and capacity...by climbing that tree...with no hands" he said, eye smile always present.

Sakura and Sasuke just looked at their idiot sensei and blanked. How the hell was that even possible? Maybe they should all just petition for a new sensei, surely the Hokage would understand their plight and help them. Surely?

"Ugh... Okay, I'll bite. How?" Sasuke said not wanting to waist time on any pointless exercises, he needed to focus on getting stronger and not just gaining pointless skills.

Naruto, to everyone's surprise, just laughed and started walking vertically up at a slow and sedate pace. "Well, first of all you send chakra to your feet, and then you walk" Naruto said as he back flipped down, landing next to a stunned Kakashi.

"Naruto! When the hell did you learn that, and how?" Kakashi asked not quite sure what to think of what he just saw. 'Damn, every time it's just more and more surprises. Uhh, I need a break from this, all this teaching and actual work is gonna give me a heart attack' Kakashi thought with a sigh as he looked expectantly at Naruto.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously, blushing from embarrassment "Well, As you know my chakra control is shoddy and over powered. So, I decided to get as many books on chakra control as I could, and this just happened to be one of the exercises. I'm working on water walking at the moment.." Naruto sighed and shrugged," but that's going awfully"

Sakura was looking at Naruto with bug eyes, in the matter of two months Naruto had went from dead last idiot to just as clever, if not more so, than her and was catching up to Sasuke in terms of ability. What had happened to the annoying, stupid, weak guy that used to love her? The last thought also hit her quite hard as she just realised Naruto no longer loved her, the one person who always boosted her self-esteem after being rejected by Sasuke. But now, now he no longer boosted her self-esteem. All she got was point-blank rejection, and that thought truly depressed her. But she would just have to deal with it and move on, after all, what else could she do.

Sighing Sakura said "So, how do we do this then, Sensei?" looking to Kakashi, who was now snapping out of his reverie.

Bringing himself back to the current situation, Kakashi walked towards the tree and stopped in front of it. "First of all, I will explain how this will help you. TreeClimbing Practice is a training method used to gain more skill with chakra control. This is done by learning to focus a constant and steady stream of chakra to our feet, the hardest place to mould chakra on our body." he said and quickly done a tiger seal and focused his chakra at the bottom of his feet, which now emitted a light blue glow, showing his students how to do it.

"This also involves focusing a fixed amount of chakra to the bottom of our feet, and using that to climb a tree without using our hands. If the stream of chakra is too weak, the user will lose their footing on the tree and fall off." he said rubbing his foot on the tree to demonstrate how to little chakra affected his attachment to the tree. Suddenly his foot blow of the tree with a cracking sound, revealing a partially destroyed piece of bark. " If it is too strong, the user will be pushed away from the tree, causing the tree to break around the point of contact and the user will fall."

Walking up the tree at a sedate pace he looked at his students, "So the aim is to get the right amount of chakra into our feet and keeping it supplied at a constant and steady pace, once this is done we walk up the tree, which uses more chakra. So, in the end we boost our chakra reserves through this training as well as control." as Kakashi finished he jumped down and looked to see that both of his genin understood, and when they nodded he threw a Kunai at both their feet.

"Use these to mark your progress, now of you go. I'm going to set Naruto some different training, have fun" Kakashi said with a wave before turning towards Naruto and looking at him with a thoughtful frown.

"Naruto, come with me" Kakashi said walking of to a secluded part of the forest, Naruto following shortly behind.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

After several minutes of thinking Kakashi decided what he could help him with. "Naruto, you remember when you and Sasuke were trading stories about how your training was going?" he asked looking at his student.

"Er, ye. Why?" he asked back, not knowing where his sensei was going with this topic.

"Good, good. Now tell me, when you said chakra control, did you per chance come across Nature transformation?" Kakashi asked, due to the fact that he knew the next stage of chakra control that would be mentioned was his elemental control. And before it came to Naruto attempting things far out of his reach, he wanted to ease him into it so that he could pay attention to his progress.

Naruto looked at Kakashi with a confused expression, "Nature transformation? What the hell is that? Is it that thing with the paper where you push your chakra into it to find out your nature affinity?" He asked confused, causing Kakashi to sigh.

"No and yes. It has something to do with that, and by the way you speak of it you already know what your affinity is don't you" Kakashi asked, knowing what he could possibly help him with. Although, he couldn't teach him any of his higher level lightning jutsu yet as all his were high level and deadly.

When Naruto heard this he face palmed himself before looking back at his sensei, " I'm such a dumb ass".

Kakashi misunderstood why his student was annoyed and tried to comfort him "Now, now Naruto. Most chunin and nearly all genin don't know their affinity, there's no need to be ashamed" he said putting up a glistening eye-smile.

"No, I've known my affinity for weeks, I just forgot to tell you. I was even told by jiji that you were one of the best lightning wielders in the worlds. Kumo included. I should have been looking for your help from the start, especially how I'm a lightning type myself" Naruto said, rubbing his temples in anger.

"Well, that...would have been nice to know" Kakashi said sweat-dropping at his forgetfulness. " But you don't have to be angry about it, it was a small mistake after all and I know now".

Naruto stopped rubbing his temples and sighed, " that's not all, sensei. I don't just have lightning affinity, I have a high lightning affinity, akin to how the Nidaime had a high water affinity" he said now looking at his teachers shocked face... eye. Ye, go with that. He smiled at seeing how his teacher was unable to speak.

"You do know what that means, right, sensei?" Naruto said stifling a laugh as he saw his teacher nod his head dumbly, 'Heh, this is what it's like to surprise him. I should have done this sooner, he looks like I just punched the Hokage' Naruto thought with a snicker.

"Of course I know what that means, and now I've got to say it was a stupid thing to forget to tell me" Kakashi said sighing, 'I wanted something I could teach him in, but this is a little extreme. This could make him one of Konoha's best ninja in the future, if he masters it of course' he thought.

Naruto's face flushed a little with embarrassment and anger, "Oh, first you try to tell me its fine, but now its stupid. Are you trying to confuse me as well as call me stupid. * sigh * It doesn't really matter, does this mean you can teach me anything or not" Naruto asked hopping to get over the embarrassment he was feeling about forgetting something so important. Seriously, how many people forgot something as important as he did.

Kakashi laughed before saying, " One of the best lightning users in existence, does that count for anything here' Kakashi said with a cocky eye-smile, but quickly carried on as Naruto said something about being a pervert. "Tell me, have you started training your element yet?" seeing Naruto's blank look he sighed, this was going to be fun teaching someone the beginning of elemental. Yes, fun. "well, let's get you started. Go get a leaf"

Naruto thought it was some kind of joke, but got the leaf and handed it over to Kakashi. "Here you go. Now, what's Nature transformation and what does that leaf have to do with it?" he said pointing at aforementioned leaf.

"Oh, the naïvety of my chibi followers. This, my dear student, is how you are going to train your lightning chakra." he said getting a scoff from Naruto. " First of all, let me show you what to do" as he said that a blue-whit line of energy shot across the leaf and cut it in half.

Naruto, having just seen this, stood slack-jawed. Pointing at the leaf he said "How" stupefied. It wasn't every day that he saw someone do ridiculously unheard of things. Although, he did paint the Hokage monument in broad daylight whilst wearing a bright orange jump-suit. But hey, who's counting.

"heh, simple really. I just used my lightning chakra to cut it in half. Now, before you ask 'how' again. I want you to create some shadow clones to help Sasuke and Sakura with their tree climbing" Kakashi said, but had to reiterate his words as Sakura walked over with a smile.

"Done, Kakashi-sensei!" she shouted as she walked closer with a bright smile, stopping next to Naruto she said "So, what do I do now?"

Blinking back his momentary surprise Kakashi eye-smiled, "Well done Sakura. I guess that was rather easy when you have near perfect chakra control, eh? Well, just keep doing it until you're out of chakra and then come back to the house. From then on you'll be guarding Tazuna, 'Kay?" he said jovially, and had to hold back a laugh at Sakura's down turned expression.

Turning back towards Sasuke's location she said "Yes, Kakashi-sensei." before running to her crush shouting things about finally having time alone with him. Kakashi watched as two Naruto's also ran towards the location, joining Sakura and Sasuke.

Turning back to Naruto Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Thank you, Naruto. Now, to answer your question." picking up a leaf in one hand and placing the other above Kakashi said " Now watch what happens" and proceeded to create a line of lightning between each hand that cut the leaf in half like a laser.

"Um, you...created a mini lightning bolt?" Naruto guessed.

"No,..Well, yes. But what I was really doing was focusing my lightning chakra and using it to make the particles inbetween my hands vibrate very aggressively and very fast. This action created a lot of random electrical and static energy that sits in the air. I then focus these particles together and uses it to create some lightning, which I in turn manipulated to cut this leaf" Kakashi said, whilst once again demonstrating to Naruto, but a lot slower.

"There is also several things you should remember when manipulating your element. The first is that when using lightning jutsu without knowing how to properly manipulate that element, it will significantly slow down and weaken it. Whereas when you do know how to manipulate lightning and use it to create lightning this way, instead of relying on hand signs to help you create it, it will significantly increase the speed and damage done by it, aswell as reducing the amount of chakra needed." Kakashi said looking at Naruto, seeing if he was still following him.

Raising his hand slightly to hold his sensei, Naruto asked " So, my lightning justu are really only half-cooked and cost more than what a more powerful one would."

"Yep"

"well that's just great, all that hard work learning those jutsu and they weren't even worth the time" Naruto complained, mourning over all of the wasted time.

"Now, now, Naruto. Those jutsu are still valuable, it's just now you can make them more powerful." Kakashi interjected.

Sighing Naruto said "Ye, I guess you're right. So, what's next"

"Also keep in mind that due to your high affinity all your lightning based jutsu should be easier to control, direct, make faster or more powerful, and cost less chakra and not to mention it'll be far easier for you to learn than other people. That is if you have it, I'm still a little sceptical as you can imagine. And last but not least, always remember lightning is very fast, active and volatile by nature. If you keep that in mind whilst making jutsu and using manipulation it should increase your skill and understanding with each, understood?" Kakashi said, listing of all of the points Naruto needed to know. Although Kakashi was still sceptical about Naruto's claim and filed it in his head as something to question the Hokage about.

"Ye, sure. I'll get my clones on it, I'm gonna go and do some exercises" Naruto said, before creating roughly 300 clones and giving them their standing orders. "Well, bye" he said with a wave before setting of at a jog.

Kakashi stood there for a moment, thinking on how well Naruto was coming along. The rate at which he was improving was extraordinary, and he would now place Naruto a little higher in the ability spectrum than Sasuke. And it was all down to Naruto's marvellous use of shadow clones. The thought of Naruto's potential with the shadow clone technique, his longevity of life, large chakra reserves (which would only continue to multiply) and the Kyuubi thrown into the mix, all scarred Kakashi. Naruto really had the potential to do anything.

Adding Sasuke to the equation, whom had a potential as great as Naruto's, would only make both boys want to beat each other and would constantly use each other as a measuring board that would only continue to make them grow. Their combined potential was what truly terrified Kakashi, together they could become a new Sannin, or an even better one. Legends in the making.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that night at dinner everyone sat at Tazuna's family dinner table, eating. Everyone was having a good time and joking around and talking about fun times and trivial matters. Even Sasuke seemed to be have a good time. Earlier on with Naruto's clone's help Sasuke had completed his tree climbing and now had it down. Sakura had kept going until she couldn't walk and couldn't stand at the moment due to chakra exhaustion. Tomorrow she would be guarding Tazuna, whilst Naruto and Sasuke would have time to do as they please. Train.

As everyone sat down with empty plates Sakura took the time to look around the room, until her site fell upon a picture of Inari, Tazuna's 8-year-old grandson with black hair and wide eyes, Tsunami, Tzunan's daughter who looked very young and her as dark as Inari's, and Tazuna. They all looked very happy in this picture, but that's not what caught her attention. What did was the part where someone's face had been ripped out.

Turning back to Tazuna she asked, "Tazuna-san, who was it that was in that picture?". When she asked she suddenly felt the dark and cold atmosphere that crept into the room, suffocating all of the joy and happiness in the air.

"It was Inari's father" Tazuna said in a low voice that everyone barely caught. As he said that Inari got up rather quickly and left the room.

Turning from the dishes she was washing Tsunami shot a worried glance over to her son, "Inari!" she shouted as he walked out of the room slamming the door. Turning to her father with an angry glare she shouted "I told you not to talk about him in-front of Inari" as she left the room to go after her son.

"What's up with Inari?" Sakura asked looking back at Tazuna now that Inari had left the room.

"There is obviously something behind this" Kakashi said looking at Tazuna, catching everyone's attention.

" *sigh*, you're right. That man was Inari's stepfather, the closest thing he's ever had to real father. But he, along with Inari's and the village's happiness and courage, was taken away from us the day our village's hero died" Tazuna said gruffly, with what looked like tears at the corner of his eyes.

Perking up from this Naruto asked "Hero?", generally interested on how someone became a hero if he wasn't a ninja.

"Yes, hero. I prefer to call our hero 'Kaiza', son, or Inari's father, for those are his names. And he took great pride in them, especially 'father' and 'hero'. He was a father for Inari to be proud of, for the village to be proud of.

He first met Inari three years ago when he saved Inari from some bullies and drowning after they had stolen his dog, Pochi. Unfortunately Pochi was lost, but Kaiza taught Inari a valuable lesson, he said "Whatever is important to you, protect it with these two arms, no matter how hard or sad it is or if it even costs it your life. Just give it your all' and from that day Inari followed him around like they were father and son." Taking a small breath Tazuna stopped to wipe a stray tear away from his cheek, much to everyone's surprise.

"He first became known as the village hero on a terrible day. Our village had been hit by a terrible storm that had flooded parts of our village and killed a lot of people. But, there was worse to come. A runner came to our house, he told us one of our safety measure dams were down and couldn't be raised and that thousands of people in sector B could be killed or injured by the rush flood that would strike them if the dam wasn't lifted. So, Kaiza and Inari ran to the dam, and Kaiza jumped straight into the raging torrents that were more powerful than most rapids and done the impossible. Swam to the other side, raised the dam and saved many, many lives and became the village hero. Everyone was so proud of him, Inari more than any other and their relationship as father and son truly blossomed." Tazuna said releasing a sigh in contemplation and remembrance at truly happy times.

"But, it was not to last. Gato feared the power he now held with the people and knew they could all turn on him at a single word from Kaiza, and so he acted before that could happen. It was with his power in mind that he decided it would be best to have my son killed, just for his good will, just because he was a good person. So, one day Kaiza was executed publicly, and made a mockery of in front of his friends, family and villagers. Gato's words were " I heard you say you should protect what's important to you with your own two arms, lets see you do that without them" and cut his arms of and left him to bleed to death in front of us all. That was the day that Inari changed, I changed, Tsunami changed, and our entire village changed. It was that day the village gave up and I carried on in his name" As Tazuna finished he cried freely, truly distraught over the loss of such a great man.

Everyone couldn't help but to think the same thing as they thought about how a man could stand up to such a person, such a monster and still carry on. Even willing to risk his life for those around him, no matter what. It was men like him that inspired others to do great things, to be great people. It was hero's like him that deserved greatness, but sadly never got them.

Everyone was snapped from their reverie when Naruto suddenly, " Excuse me, I'm going for some training." Naruto said before turning to Sasuke "Wanna spar, teme" He said with a smirk.

Sasuke didn't know why but he smiled and said "Sure, but you still can't touch me, dobe!" getting up and walking to the door.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Prepare to have your pretty face rearranged, teme" Naruto said before walking out with Sasuke close behind' leaving a bemused sensei and pinkette.

"Um, sensei? What the hell just happened?" asked an amazed Sakura, after all the impossible had just happened.

Kakashi just shrugged with an eye-smile, "Call it male bonding, Sakura." he said calmly, but inside he was jumping up and down with joy. 'Yes..yes...yes. They might finally start working together, and if they do Sakura will instantly fall in with Sasuke. Hehe, I did it' he thought patting himself on the back for a job well done, whilst Sakura just continued to stare at the door in amazement.

'How? How the hell did they become this friendly with each other, well if you can call punching each others faces of friendly, but still.' was all she could think, but decided to go to bed and hope Sasuke wasn't acting strange in the morning.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Forest – Land of waves)

Naruto opened his eyes and scanned the area, he realised that he'd slept outside last night after sparring with Sasuke. Or did he pass out? Naruto couldn't really remember so decided to get up and go back to Tazuna's. Turning around he saw Sasuke sleeping on the first branch of a tall tree and gained a smile on his face. Cupping his hands to his mouth Naruto shouted "Oi!Teme! Get up!" and nearly laughed so hard that he passed out when he Sasuke shoot wide awake and stumble out of the tree...and land on his arse as he hit the floor.

"HAHA, nice landing, douche." Naruto said holding his hands to his stomach as he laughed his head off.

Sasuke growled as he looked at Naruto, "Shut it, dobe. Uh, damn blonde, I'll beat you to a pulp again like last night" he said annoyed, but walked over to Naruto.

"Oh, that was funny. Anyway it was a draw last night." Naruto pointed out, and then looked to his right. "Look, someone's coming".

Sasuke was instantly on the alert and held his hand above his kunai pouch, ready to fight if it was needed. But, put his hand down as he saw an angelic girl walk into the clearing wearing her long hair loosely, and wore a pink sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to her ankles. Around her waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps. She also wore a dark-coloured choker around his neck. Sasuke had to admit she looked beautiful, very beautiful.

"Hello" the girl said walking up the two ninja with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Hello, may I ask why you are out here?" Sasuke said still a little on edge.

Raising a small basket with her right arm she said "I'm collecting some medical herbs for an ill friend. And you?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh, we're just two ninja out and about, doing some training. That kind of thing, ya know. Want some help picking some herbs?" Naruto said with a goofy grin as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

The girls smile seemed to brighten a little at Naruto's offer, "I would like that ….."

"Oh! Naruto Uzumaki and this is Sasuke 'teme' Uchiha" Naruto joked slapping Sasuke on the arm.

"You forgot your middle name- Dobe, you dobe" Sasuke said back calmly, much to Naruto's annoyance.

"You two are very amusing, I am Haku Yuki. It is a pleasure to meet you" she said with a slight bow of her head.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

An hour or so later Naruto and Sasuke were just finishing picking some herbs that Haku had pointed out she needed. Walking back towards Haku Naruto waved at her with a friendly smile.

"Hn, you're like a love-sick puppy dobe" Sasuke said like his usual arrogant self.

"Ye, she's hot. Or did you prefer the sex, never mind because if you didn't have a slight interest in her you wouldn't be here picking up herbs. You don't do kind things, or have you forgotten that you're supposed to be a prick" Naruto said with a laugh as he saw Sasuke huff and look the other way.

"my interest in her is not her looks, it is something else" Sasuke said cryptically as he neared Haku.

"Hello, Sasuke, Naruto" Haku said accepting the herbs gratefully.

"Hn" was Sasuke's reply as he looked away.

"Yep, I definitely hurt his feelings" Naruto said with a smile, laughing on the inside at how Sasuke was acting. "Hello Haku-chan" Naruto said turning to the girl and giving her the herbs he had collected.

After a small silence Haku asked, "So why are you training this early in the morning?" with a slight tilt of her head.

"We're Ninja on a mission to protect a client, this client has been attacked by an A-rank missing-nin. We cannot even begin to compare to an A-rank ninja, so we are training to take on any subordinates he has" Sasuke said, watching Haku.

"oh! A-rank, that does sound scary" She asked her smile ever-present "So, would you mind if I asked for what purpose you would use your strength once it is attained?"

"To protect those close to me, and those of my village" Naruto said quickly whilst putting his fist to hi chest and smiling, "Because some day I'm gonna become Hokage. Believe it!"

"Ha! Like to see you try, dobe. The only thing you could become is a dobe. I on the other hand want power to kill a certain person" Sasuke said darkly, and then looked at Haku. "Why do you ask?" he said evenly.

"I believe that for one to be strong, they must have something to protect. Whether that is a person, a place, or even an inanimate object, but whatever it is you must be willing to protect it with your life. Because when you do you find you are able to go further and harder than you ever have done before." Haku said with a warm smile and looked at Sasuke. "Your hatred can only be used against you and harm you if you don't have love to balance out that hate, because you can gain strength from hate does not mean it's good to only hate. Find something that you can love and protect that equals your hatred and destructive desire, because you then have love to defend your heart with and hatred of your heart to attack with. A truly fearsome combination when used properly." She said calmly and kindly, relaying her beliefs to the Uchiha.

"And you Naruto, I feel you will truly become a strong person. Remember to always cultivate that desire to defend and love and you can only become stronger. Goodbye" she said picking up her basket a going to leave.

Naruto Who had listened couldn't help but to agree with Haku's beliefs, he would always continue down the path he was walking, no matter how hard. It was his desire and destiny to protect all those he considered his, and he always would, even if it cost him much, the price would still be to cheap if the people he'd sworn to protect could still smile.

Sasuke was contemplating the new perspective of his worldly dilemma, it was definitely different and similar to how he currently thought. And what she had said all made sense, it was a well-known ninja fact that the wrong emotions could get you killed just as easy as a kunai to the heart could. But he had always seen caring for people as a weakness, just look at his life example, he and his entire clan loved Itachi and cherished him, but he turned on them and killed them all and left him all alone. But on the flip side he had recently seen how Naruto had made a promise to protect and had seen the effects, a massive leap in power, skill and intellect. Was his way of thinking truly correct? Or did it need to be revised?

But now was not the time to think about that as he and Naruto had a bigger problem on their hands and he only hoped that Naruto realised. Turning to Naruto he sighed when he saw Naruto pulling out a kunai and hold up one of his hands with three fingers up. Sasuke likewise pulled out a kunai and nodded to Naruto.

3

2

1

Naruto grabbed the handle of his kunai tightly, quickly charging forward and swung at Haku's back who dodged the strike and jumped to a tree to escape but was cut off by Sasuke.

"Stop now!" Sasuke said coolly as he looked at Haku who now had several senbon in her hand.

"How did you know?" Haku asked not knowing were she had went wrong.

"The herbs we picked, I recognised them. They are all poisons and some even require chakra to use, proving you have ninja training. Added to the fact that you had lied to us saying they were for healing someone makes me come to the conclusion you're the enemy ninja." Naruto said and saw the questioning look on Sasuke's face. "I eat a lot, so I decided to find out what was poison and what wasn't so I knew what I could eat and what I couldn't. Had my clones do it last week." He saw Sasuke nod in understanding.

"I figured it out when you said Yuki. When we joined team 7 our sensei suggested that we look up all clans, friendly and not, for future reference. The Yuki clan is a clan of **Hyoton** (Ice release) users, you match their usual description, dark black her, very feminine features and brown eyes. Furthermore that was a Kiri clan and due to the bloodline purges you would have had to flee Kiri, add that to the fact Zabuza comes from Kiri and it all fits perfectly. Now, surrender and we won't hurt you" Sasuke said standing a little straighter, obviously proud of himself. Smug bastard.

Sighing Haku tied her hair up into a knot and placed a senbon through it, "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Zabuza-sama would be rather disappointed if I did. What's more is that you are two low-level genin and I'm a high level chunin, you can't beat me" As she finished she launched several senbon Sasuke and attempted to rush him as he dodged the deadly needles.

As she got closer she dodged backwards as a clone jumped over Sasuke's shoulder and attempted to kick her, "Sorry Haku, you'll have to kill us to get past. But that's unlikely as we have the number advantage, we're better equipped as you're wearing that kimono that constricts your movement and there is also no around here, so that means you can't use **Hyoton **or **Suiton **jutsu. That only leaves wind, Sasuke has several fire type jutsu so we can negate those jutsu aswell. Face it you cannot win. It also helps us that one of my clones has already told Kakashi-sensei about you and is on his way." 'Naruto' said.

"I'm sorry but I still can't give up, I will not fail Zabuza-sama!" She shouted once again charging Sasuke, but this time at a very surprising speed.

Sasuke quickly back tracked and began blocking and redirecting any strikes that came his way, only throwing attacks in when his opponent was of balance. Ducking under another swing Sasuke found Haku's knee coming towards his face, but it was deflected at the last moment by Naruto who quickly took the offensive whilst she was of balance with fast and strong attacks that were meant to keep knocking her down. But, unfortunately, Haku was deceptively strong and was matching Naruto blow for blow.

Jumping back from the attackers Haku looked around to see that she was circled by clones who were hiding in the woods, should she get past Naruto and Sasuke they were most likely there to delay here whilst those two caught up. Hearing a crackle she jumped backwards as a wave of lightning shot through the ground, tearing up the earth where she had been. Whilst in mid-air she turned to see a large fireball attempting to catch her whilst she couldn't move. Doing two quick hand signs she breathed out a burst of air using **Fuuton: ****Kaikou Jinpuu ( Wind release: Mouth gale) **to push her away from the fireball's reach. Landing she turned and settled into a defensive stance.

"Sasuke, you handle mid-long range support" Naruto said before creating 10 clones and charging in. Just before any clone reached Haku, Naruto saw several flames from Sasuke's **Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix flower Jutsu)** force her to duck and dodge, throwing her of balance just as Naruto reached her. As soon as he got in close Naruto got his clones attack and keep her of balance as he set up the finisher. Throwing four kunai at equal distances from each other creating a square, Naruto ran through several hand seals and threw several shuriken above Haku, who was now standing inside of the sqaure of kunai.

"Collaboration technique: **Raiton: Seiteki Nashi : Kaminari Shuriken (Static death: Lightning Shuriken)** " Naruto shouted as lightning bolts sprayed down from the shuriken above Haku's head, some hitting her whilst some hit the kunai in the square causing the lightning to flow through the ground and shocking Haku. The end result was a steaming and unconscious Haku laying in the middle of a destroyed area of earth.

Walking up to her Naruto checked her pulse and sighed, "She's alive, but barely. Help me tie her up" He said to Sasuke who was walking over with a cocky smile. "Nice by the way, that **Katon: Hōsenka** technique has definitely gotten faster and stronger, aswell as your **Gokyakou**"

"Thanks. That was a nice collaboration technique, where did you learn it?" Sasuke asked as he started tying Haku up with Naruto.

"Family scrolls. Haven't you learnt any knew stuff, don't you have like a clan full of techniques and you only use two. Didn't your clan copy down thousands of jutsu?" Naruto asked generally wanting to know, Sasuke hadn't seemed to have learnt anything new since the beginning of team seven.

"No. I don't. The council refuses to hand over my clan inheritance until I'm 18 or a jounin. It's ridiculous, my families possessions are being kept from me. And for what reason, they haven't kept yours from you have they" Sasuke said his voice teaming with spite for his injustice.

"Hm, I have to agree that that is unfair" Naruto said with a frown, but then smiled. "Wanna make a deal?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto carefully, "What kind of deal?" he asked cautiously and curiously.

"I'll give you my clans fire jutsu scroll, as I can't use it at all -burnt myself horribly-, you borrow it until you get your family scrolls, but you help me with taijutsu and teach me any lightning based jutsu you happen to come across, deal?" Naruto asked with a smile, even though he knew that the deal was in Sasuke's favour.

Sasuke looked at Naruto sceptically, "You'd do that, dobe. Fine, deal" he said shaking Naruto's hand.

"Ah crap, I should have added you can't call me a dobe anymore. Damn it!" Naruto shouted head-butting the floor repeatedly, stopping he said "Not to late to add it to the deal is it?" he asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Ha, of course not dobe. Our deal has been struck" Sasuke said trying to hide his smirk as Naruto screamed, cried and cursed Sasuke as a teme.

Naruto smiled happily though and pointed to Sasuke's eyes and said "congrats, you got your Sharingan" and clapped him on the shoulder as his jaw dropped.

Sasuke smiled as he realised he had, everything seemed slightly slower than normal, all of Naruto's movements seemed more defined and telegraphed. Also, everything he was seeing seemed to be transferred to his memory in perfect clarity. Pulling out his kunai Sasuke looked into it's reflective surface to see two red eyes, one with one tomoe and the other with two. 'Yes! I've done it! I'm one step closer to you now Itachi, just you wait and I'll kill you soon enough' he thought in ecstasy as he revelled in his joy. He was snapped out of it though by some loud clapping.

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP.

Naruto and Sasuke turned with kunai out to intercept any threat, but put them away when they saw Kakashi and a wide-eyed Sakura.

"Well done you two! That was an amazing piece of teamwork, your co-ordination was wonderful and the way you used your knowledge, elements and location to your advantage was amazing. I'm very proud of you two. Furthermore you even managed to successfully apprehend the enemy ninja, who also has a Kekkei Genkai, alive. She will probably now be taken to Konoha and used to create a new clan of Kekkei Genkai users with the **Hyoton**. The village council is going kissing your back sides for years" Kakashi said with an eye-smile as he looked with joy at his students.

"Wait! Two things: one, why didn't you help us out if you watched our little party, which it sounds like you did" Naruto said getting a shrug from Kakashi which caused Naruto to have to restrain his ire "And secondly just say what it means, she's going to be forced to bare children, right?" Naruto said venomously, in his mind Haku, even though she was the enemy, didn't act being nice and deserved better. It was inhumane to just gain a special ability.

Sighing heavily Kakashi looked at his chibi team, "She will have one of two options: refuse to work with us and be forced to give birth to multiple children and spend the rest of her life in jail. Or work with us and become an official clan leader, get married by the time she's 18 and have children by 23. That way she has a lot more freedom of when and who she does 'it' with and she can live in a clan compound instead of a jail. She can live with her family and watch them grow up, although she will most likely never be allowed out of the village again, and if she is she will have a tracking seal placed on her. So, she has a choice between servitude or a more lenient form of jail" Kakashi summed up for them all.

Looking around he saw the disbelief on Sakura's face, disgust on Naruto's and even a frown on Sasuke's. Which was all that needed to be said if it had managed to make him think more about it than his Sharingan. All in all he could tell they didn't like it, and neither did he. But, that is part of what being a ninja was all about, letting the higher-ups make the difficult choices. His little team just had to understand that aswell.

Picking up Haku and slinging her over his shoulder, Kakashi started heading back to Tazuna's. "Come on, this is a time to celebrate not look down trodden" he said as hopped from tree to tree, not looking back at the angry and disgusted faces he knew he would see. "Oh and Sasuke, congrats".

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Land of waves – Gato headquarters

"hahaha, that little girl of yours wasn't all she was cracked up to be, was she?" Gato shouted hysterically as laughed at the 'demon of the mist', probably not his greatest idea in his life he had to admit as Zabuza's sword was at his throat.

"Shut it you fat little prick" Zabuza growled as slowly released more and more killer intent. "Next time you insult me or her I'll take that burden off of your shoulders" he warned. Zabuza had not taken to well to the news that Haku had been captured a little under 24 hours ago. He knew what that meant for not only his plans on Yagura's life, but for Haku's future. He knew he couldn't subject her to that life, demon of the mist or not, no man would leave a woman under their protection to that horrible fate. He was honour bound- no more than honour bound, he owed Haku more for what she had done for him.

"O-Okay" Gato squeaked, sweating as his eyes looked down at the huge blade at his throat. "B-But you b-better get the j-job done soon, or I wont pay you" Gato said before quickly leaving with his tails between his legs.

"Little man has no nerves, a little danger and he shits himself, huh" Zabuza grunted out a chuckle. "Meizu! Gozu!" He shouted and two figures instantly appeared before him. "we attack soon, get in any training you two need" And with that they all left to train.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

2 weeks Later – Land of Water – Tazuna's household

The last two weeks had been spent in preparation for the inevitable conflict, today was the day of that conflict. Today was the day the bridge would be completed. Today was the end of the mission.

Over the past two weeks Naruto had managed to learn one lightning jutsu that required no hand signs, mastered cutting the leaf and worked on his taijutsu with Sasuke. He had now moved on to the next stage of lightning manipulation, which was cutting a small rock in half.

Sasuke had got down a new fire jutsu and was currently working on the fire version of splitting the leaf with your chakra Nature except he had to burn the whole leaf in under 3 seconds. The best he'd managed was 11, but then he didn't have Naruto's shadow clone capabilities so he made do with his Sharingan, which thanks to Naruto's and Kakashi's help he'd managed to get the second tomoe on both eyes. Kakashi-sensei had said the third tomoe would most likely take a couple of years from all the study and experience he'd had with it, but told Sasuke to get used to using it in battle with Naruto so that he could get his timing right whilst using his Sharingan. Due to the fact that everything seemed slower and easier to read made most new Sharingan users move too quickly and miss time their attacks, so he needed to get his timing to his best standard so that he truly got the best out of his Sharingan.

Sakura had been working on her chakra levels and Taijutsu with Kakashi-sensei whilst Naruto and Sasuke had been 'bonding' with their fists. As Kakashi-sensei liked to put it. Furthermore Naruto had given her a book on beginning medical ninjutsu, as he had tried it but needed considerably higher levels of chakra control and decided to give it to 'miss perfect chakra control' and she's managed to start it up, but wouldn't be doing much healing any time soon.

Kakashi had watched his team grow over the past two weeks and could happily say that he was proud of his new team, and was truly glad that he had accepted them, fighters in their prime, legends in the making.

Unfortunately his mood was a little soured by Haku had said nothing but how she had failed as a weapon to serve her master and was now worthless and deserved to die. Not even Naruto had managed to sway her opinion, and they all knew what that meant for her future, it wasn't good.

But now he stood in-front of his team with a bright eye-smile and his hands on his hips. "Watching over you the past few weeks has been one of the greatest times of my life" Kakashi said happily, " Seeing you all come together, Naruto snap out of his stupid and hateful streak with Sasuke, gaining strength, skill and intellect just as rapidly. Sasuke you have achieved your Sharingan, learnt that teamwork is as important as your single ability. And Sakura, you have finally stopped being a total fan-girl and learnt that your ninja skills and training are as important as your love, and have even found a speciality to start on thanks to Naruto. Together you will achieve great things, and today will only be the start" Kakashi said as he looked over his students. Sasuke stood tall and proud with a smile adorning his face. Sakura stood on Sasuke's right with a bright smile that showed how she felt. And Naruto crouched next to Sasuke looking up at his sensei with a goofy smile. His wonderful chibi team.

"Now, down to business. Because we know Zabuza has to attack today Sakura will be staying here and guarding Tazuna and his family" Kakashi said and smiled me he heard Sakura's reply.

"I'll do my best sensei" she said with all of her conviction. 'There's no way I'm going to let those to leave me behind, I'll stay with you both no matter what'.

"I know you will Sakura. Now, Naruto and Sasuke, you will be taking on whoever is backing up Zabuza whilst I take him on personally." He said knowing that was exactly what the two wanted, and was proven right as they both smiled, all be it Sasuke's was more of a smirk, but it would do.

"Lastly, I have one last lesson. Those who abandon their mission are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. If you can't handle the enemy get your friends out of there and retreat. If I lose, retreat. Make sure you all survive" He commanded with as much authority as he could.

"Yes, sensei" the three chorused in unison.

"Alright, team 7 set out" Kakashi said as he, Naruto and Sasuke disappeared into the trees, heading for the bridge.

* * *

**Well that is that. This chapter was mainly to grow some bonds here and there, fuck the main plot up a little and start creating splinters in the original story so that this me and mine. Sasuke got his Sharingan differently, Oh no! Ye bitch, lets see the demon brothers verse the demon something or others rookies of Konoha, hehehe. Also I want to start Sakura of early with the medical thing so that I can use her more in the story, instead of oh no, sakura stand back whilst Naruto gets the shit kicked out of him. Kya! And lastly there is Sasuke's changing personality, slightly..maybe a bit more than slightly, you decide. Tell me what you think about it all and I'll get back to you, bye. **


	7. The Battle of Wave Country

**Right, new chapter up. I would like to mention that all of a sudden my righting has come to me easier, so chapters like this, 10k+ words, will be more common than previous ones, 6-7k words.**

**Reviews:**

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Ye, I know what you mean. which asshole decided that would happen! * starts sweating nervously * **

**InARealPickle: I know, in the anime/ manga I always thought if he really loved him : A) give him a decent allowance, I mean come on no-ones gonna find out your taking a little money from the Namikaze funds once a month. Or B) adopt him.**

**ThomasNealy: It's because most fic's start of with wind, so might aswell give him something different, you know, make it new and all. But he does start learning some wind jut****s****u soon, which will eventually lead to his second nature affinity.**

**Rikudou Naruto: Why thank you, you're gonna make me blush. or scream manly at the top of my lungs about my awesomeness... probably the second one. **

* * *

**The battle of Wave country**

**Tazuna's bridge**

As three people arrived at the bridge they took slow, careful steps towards the centre. Each one allowing every moment they could to possibly detect an enemy presence, waiting like coiled snakes ready to strike. As they waited a misty hue breathed into the land clouding and forming around the three ninja, blocking the vision to within 10 meters of themselves.

"Visual, 10-minus meters." Kakashi said as he looked for any sign of the enemy. This was the technique that Zabuza, the demon of the mist, was renowned for, the silent killing technique of Kirigakure. This meant the target was nearby.

Naruto and Sasuke tensed up as they saw three figures walk out of the mist and stroll casually towards them. Two were already known to the group, Meizu and Gozu, the demon brothers, two chunin missing-nin.

In-between them was the man that Kakashi-sensei had drilled them on since day one in wave, Zabuza. Zabuza was a tall and muscular man with pale skin, short spiky black hair, small eyebrows, and brown eyes. He also wore bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He wore a sleeveless black shirt and matching pants, a forehead protector sideways on his head. But the biggest thing about Zabuza was the large sword on his back, Kubikiribocho. The sword blade was as long as Zabuza was tall, with a two foot handle attached to the end of it. Furthermore there was a semicircle hole cut out of the blade at the bottom, and a full circle at the top.

As the six ninja converged, Zabuza looked at his companions and pointed to the other end of the bridge. They quickly ran to the other side of the bridge and waited.

"Your fight is with them" was all Kakashi said as Naruto and Sasuke disappeared from view.

Chuckling Zabuza said "Your team seems in a rush to die, two genin on two experienced chunin is hardly fair".

"They are the two best genin that Konoha has to offer, I sincerely hope the 'demon brothers' are what they've been cracked up to be" Kakashi said calmly, but inside his thoughts were different. 'This can't be too good. Zabuza must have freed them before ANBU could collect them, I hope they can handle them' he thought to himself.

"Heh, that doesn't matter" Zabuza said taking Kubikiribocho into a two-handed grip. "What does, is that I kill you and regain my tool".

"I'm afraid I can't let either happen, demon of the mist" Kakashi said pulling up his forehead protector to reveal his scared face, and most of all his Sharingan. "I'm going all out from the start" He said charging at Zabuza.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Eh, Meizu! It looks like we can get revenge on those twerps instead of Kakashi." Gozu said to his brother with a feral grin.

"Yes, brother, I think we shall" replied the other brother, tuning to Naruto and Sasuke he said "So, how about it twerps. Ready to die?"

"Ha, don't make me laugh. You couldn't even kill the dobe here, the ones who are going to die today are you!" Sasuke said as though they really were nothing more than insects to him.

"Why you snotty nosed brat, let me wipe your head of your shoulders for you" Meizu shouted ad he charged forward at an impressive speed, Kunai drawn.

"Well done Sasuke, you finally learnt how to use that annoying sentence to piss, someone other than me, off" Naruto said jokingly, knowing that this would further infuriate the brothers.

Sasuke smirked as he watched Meizu approach him, turning on his Sharingan in preparation. Sasuke smiled when he saw his opponents eyes widen in surprise as he stepped past his kunai swing and slipped into his guard with a vicious snap kick to the jaw, which sent his opponent flying back to his brother.

"Like I said, it's your turn to die. Behind you" Sasuke said calmly as he pointed over the brothers shoulders.

Just as both brothers turned to look around their eyes widened as 10 Naruto clones jumped up from the other side of the bridge and engaged them in hand to hand combat. Hands and legs flashing the demon brothers blocked, dodged, deflected and redirected multiple attacks and burst clones with quick one hit counter attacks. Turning back to back to Sasuke and Naruto smirking they said, "Is that all, twerp" but their smirk faltered as Sasuke finished some hand signs.

"**Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fire Ball Jutsu)**" Sasuke shouted just before releasing a large ball of roaring fire into the brothers midst.

Both brothers, seeing the flaming ball, quickly ran through three hand seals and finished as a small amount of water covered their entire bodies "**Suiton: Mizu no Yoroi (Water Style: Water Armour)**" they said in unison just before the flames engulfed them. Just as they thought they were in the clear as the fire stopped coming and the water around them deflected the heat they saw Naruto running just behind the last of the flame, sword drawn.

Taking a diagonal slash inbetween the brothers forced one to jump left and the other right. Pushing the advantage whilst Meizu was of balance, Naruto threw three shuriken further splitting him off from his brother as he had to jump back further.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"heh, trying to spit us up. Wont work" Gozu said as he went to charge Naruto's unguarded back, but was stopped as Sasuke showed up in-front of him. "Tsk, big deal I'll take care of you in no time at all" he growled as he set into a defensive stance.

"Hn, without your brother you are nothing, just like him" Sasuke said coolly as he threw a shuriken at Gozu, which he easily dodged, and charged him down closing the gap between them in a couple of seconds.

Sparks flew as Sasuke's Kunai hit Gozu's. Pushing off of him Sasuke took a quick slash at Gozu's face, but hit thin air as he ducked under the swing and had to then defend Gozu's thrust at his unguarded waist. Pushing the incoming Kunai to the side Sasuke took a snap kick at Gozu's knee, taking pleasure at feeling him buckle slightly on that leg. Following up he kicked the missing-nin in the chest sending him several feet back.

Skidding across the wet surface of the bridge, Gozu brought himself to a halt several feet away from the Uchiha. Looking up he threw a few shuriken to halt Sasuke's charge and went through several hand signs with the little time he had. "**Suiton: Suigan (Water Release: Water Gun)**" he thought as he brought his hands to his mouth and started spewing a high pressured jet of water at Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly went through three hand signs and slapped his hand onto the ground in-front of him as a large wall of fire sprouted up before him, "**Katon: Boukaheki (Fire Release: Fire Wall)**" he shouted as the turret of water hit the fire wall, making both jutsu cancel each other out in a large cloud of steam.

Both fighters stood waiting for the steam to clear, each smiling when they saw their opponent again. "It looks like you aren't to bad, _twerp_" Gozu said snidely, hoping to draw his opponent in with some taunts.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, "Please, I'm trying not to laugh at how weak you are. I bet you never made chunin for your one-on-one capabilities, you're pathetic and not even worth my time" he said with a smirk as he saw Gozu's visibly twitch in anger. Sasuke smirked as saw Gozu grit his teeth and his body tense to attack.

"you'll pay for that, punk" Gozu said as he charged at Sasuke.

Smirking, Sasuke stood firm readying himself into his Interceptor Fist stance, this would not last long if Gozu took the offensive and Sasuke knew it. His style of fighting was designed to be used on the defensive and then to counter when you see opening, pair that with his new Sharingan capabilities and he would be untouchable for this low-level chunin. But, he would use this chance to further his skills with his Sharingan at lest, might aswell make something good come of the fight.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**(Meanwhile)**

"Hm, you managed to separate me and my brother. Clever, but not good enough for you, unfortunately. I'm still a rank higher than you with about six years extra experience, this will be your end" Meizu said with a smirk as he looked at Naruto.

Smiling Naruto locked eyes with Meizu, "I really hope so, for your good. Because if I get my hands on you I'm going to tear you apart for what you've done to Haku" he said in low voice. Naruto still couldn't get how Haku thought she deserved to die for failing, like she was some mere kunai to be tossed aside once used. He found how Zabuza had twisted her loyalty to such an extent, just for his own good, an abhorrent thing to do.

"Ha, good joke. She's always been like that, we had nothing to do with it. She was probably just Zabuza's little toy or something, so stop barking up the wrong tree, twerp" Meizu said with a laugh. Pulling out a kunai for each hand, Meizu beckoned him forward. "Time to die, twerp".

With a feral grin Naruto got ready, "I knew you'd make this fun" and charged.

Closing the distance Naruto used the extra reach his blade provided, just staying out of Meizu's kunai's range, but still taking glancing swings meant to just cut the enemy multiple times and slow their movements. The problem was though, every time Naruto looked to be gaining some advantage with the length of his blade, Meizu showed his superior speed by the way he kept redirecting his blade away from him, throwing Naruto slightly of balance and stopping his constant flow. When Naruto even became open in the slightest he found himself back on the defensive as Meizu came twirling in, uses his dual weapon wielding capabilities to great effect as he tested and poked Naruto's guard. Not relenting for a second and keeping Naruto on his toes, aiming only for vitals.

Seeing that continuing to fight Meizu like this due to his obvious experience in weaponry, Naruto decided to add a bit of ninjutsu to the flow. Of a sorts anyway. Jumping back from his opponent Naruto made a half tiger seal with his left hand and created 10 shadow clones, a one-handed seal he'd managed to learn so that he could do shadow clone whilst using his sword, the downside was it cost a little more chakra than normal. But, Naruto could deal without, he was like a chakra creating factory that never stopped creating and next to never ran out.

With a smile Naruto once again engaged Meizu, and this time to stop his clones from being destroyed decided to take the majority of Meizu's attention by engaging him straight away. Whilst he and Meizu traded blows his clones kept dancing in and out, striking in Meizu's blind spots and aiming for shots he couldn't easily block without creating exploitable openings. As this wore on Meizu started to tire as the cuts and bruises clotted his body and made his movements slower and more painful.

Taking a few steps back Naruto let his clones fight Meizu whilst he analysed what was happening. Meizu was now looking quite haggard now, his breathing ragged, his body was covered in shallow cuts on places like his legs and arms to slow his movements, and a few deep ones just to add to the damage.

Naruto himself had two or three cuts on him in random places, and a fairly deep one on his left shoulder, but that was starting to close up and clot, so at least he wouldn't bleed to much.

Looking over at Sasuke Naruto could see that he was keeping up with Gozu's speed better than he had with Meizu, and was even starting to pull in head due to his Sharingan and ability to anticipate his opponents attacks. In a little while Sasuke would wear down his opponent, or at least Naruto thought so.

Turning to Kakashi-sensei he saw...Mist. Ye, he'd be alright in that. Who wouldn't, it was only a death trap that was feared throughout the elemental nations for its efficiency in killing and difficulty to escape from. Ye, he'd be fine.

The only person Naruto worried about was Sakura, she had no backup or possible help, if a ninja of the demon brothers' calibre attacked her she'd lose. It's not that he thought she was useless, it was just he knew how 'strong' she was and knew she couldn't handle a chunin. Although, she did have a surprisingly good right hook, he pitied the fool who thought otherwise.

Naruto turned around and looked at Meizu in time to see him dispel the last of his clones. Meizu looked just as bad as few moments ago, but now he looked like a bull who had seen red, and decided to hit the bastard holding the red instead of the cloth, unluckily for him.

"You know, this killing me thing...so not going in your favour is it?" Naruto asked with his lips upturned in a smirk, "You're all talk without your brother aren't you. Maybe you should quit being a ninja and become a professional punching bag, you don't seem to be doing a bad job of it..." Naruto joked trying to get a rise out of his opponent, but then thought for a second. "even though I'm using a blade...agh, who cares. It's time to end this!" he said and charged Meizu down.

"My thoughts exactly!" Meizu growled as he charged at Naruto.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Meanwhile – Tazuna's house**

Sakura sat at the Tazuna family dinner table with Tazuna, Inari and Tsunami. For some reason she had an itch to find Naruto and beat him into a bloody smear, but shook it off. Since the others had left everyone had just sat at the table in silence, an eery silence. No-one wanted to talk about what was going on at the moment at Tazuna's bridge. Everyone knew what was happening and how much weighed upon the outcome, so sitting here doing nothing was killing everyone.

To help her pass the time Sakura had decided to list all the good things about Sasuke, but had eventually ran out. So, she decided to list the bad things about Naruto, but had surprisingly come up short on that list. She then decided to think about how Naruto and even Sasuke were starting to change. Since Naruto had become more serious and started taking his learning and being a ninja a serious level as well, Sasuke had found Naruto more bearable, and something of a rival and measuring stick...and to some extent a friend. That had also become more obvious since Naruto had given Sasuke some scroll just after they had captured, which intrigued her to no end about what was inside of it. But once Sasuke had seemingly opened up to a friendship with Naruto, he'd even started replying with more than one word when she talked to him. And he had even given her a tip during her training. A tip! Sakura couldn't help but to think that her team was becoming better and better, and it was strangely all down to Naruto.

She never thought she'd ever be thinking those sorts of things, Sasuke being kind..ish, Naruto being serious, smart and bearable. And she was starting medical ninjutsu (once again thanks to Naruto), things were changing for the better and she knew it.

Sighing, Sakura stood up from the table. Drawing everyone's attention, "I'm going to go check on our resident prisoner" Sakura said as she walked to the room Haku was in.

When Naruto and Sasuke had brought her back, Tsunami had said it was wrong to take someone so young, and a girl to top it off, prisoner. Naruto had given of a dark laugh and said "That's nothing compared to what's really going to happen", surprising her. But once she had heard the whole truth she had called it barbaric, given Kakashi the evils for the next two weeks and told him he can cook his own food from now on. She remembered the argument they had next …...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

_Tsunami looked at Kakashi with disgust, "this is barbaric, how could you do this" she shouted in his face. After the incident she had blamed Kakashi and not the genin children as they had to follow his orders, much to Kakashi's chagrin._

_Sighing, Kakashi closed his Icha Icha paradise book. "Look, it goes against my morale code as well. I don't like doing it, but it's my duty to my village. When I took up this headband " he said flicking the metal plate "I swore to always follow Konoha's law and what ever it orders me to do, not just protect it. I swore on my word and life to do as she asks of me, and this is one of those things" he explained calmly and truthfully, because he really didn't like it._

_Tsunami's face had softened a bit at hearing that, "Then why not just let her go, before your village finds out? What's wrong with that?" she asked almost pleadingly, because as a woman she had to totally disagree with this to its fullest. _

"_I can't, I swore I would abide by Konoha law. And this is Konoha shinobi law, if I let her go I would be breaking my oath and solemn promise to my home. I can't do it. It's not even near the worst thing shinobi like me have done, believe me" Kakashi said with a tired voice, showing how much this was wearing on him._

"_How could anything be worse than this, it's barbarism to it's worst" Tsunami said not believing there was much that could be worse._

_Standing up and walking to the door Kakashi said, "Off of the top of my head, assassinating an entire family, children younger than Inari included, because the fire Diamyo ordered it. And just because they thought he made a wrong decision." Kakashi said leaving a stunned Tsunami as he walked out of the room._

_XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX_

Sakura flinched a little remembering the calm and level tone he had said it in, it made her think of what she might one day have to do for Konoha. The thought frightened her a lot, until she put it down. Tsunami hadn't brought the topic of Haku up afterwards though.

Walking into Haku's room, Sakura saw Haku on her knees with her hands and ankles tide behind her back. It looked really uncomfortable to her.

"Hello Haku. Would you like me give you some food?" She asked kindly. Due to being tied up Haku had to be fed by others ever since she'd been here, forcibly more than once as she had tried to starve herself to death at first, but Kakashi just kept feeding her until she gave in.

"... today is the day of the battle, is it not?" Haku asked without even looking at Sakura.

"Yes, it is. My team left a while ago" Sakura said evenly.

Dropping her head Haku said, "I have failed you, master." She then looked at Sakura "why do you not kill me, I have no more purpose in life" she said as if talking about the weather.

Somewhat used to Haku's remarks about 'failure' and 'purpose in life', Sakura sighed and sat down next to Haku. "How can you say that? As long as you are alive you can always find a different and new purpose. Just because you failed does not mean you have to die. For instance, my purpose as a ninja is to complete any mission given to me, but I failed one. Albeit it was to track down an annoying cat, but just because I failed my purpose doesn't mean I have to kill myself. What I did was reapply for that mission, hunted down that stupid cat and brought it home. All I'm saying is don't give up on life because you failed it, find a new one and start again" Sakura said, and then stood up to leave, "Think about it, OK?" she said as she strode out of the room.

Haku sat there silently for several minutes before smiling as the ropes around her wrist fell away. "I would, but you have just supplied me with a back to my old one" Haku said as she held up the shuriken she had managed to take from Sakura. Getting up she stretched out her cramped limbs and body until she was satisfied. She then left through the window, rushing off towards Tazuna's bridge.

"I'll be there soon, master. I have not failed you yet" She said with a smile.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Tazuna bridge**

"Well, well Kakashi. It looks like your brats managed to separate Gozu and Meizu, best thing they could have done. Those two together are great, apart they're low-level chunin at best." Zabuza said from somewhere within the mist with grudging respect for Kakashi's genin.

"I told you that they better be up to crack if the demon brothers have a chance of beating those two, like I said 'the best genin Konoha has to offer'" Kakashi said smugly as he looked for Zabuza, which was proving to be futile.

For most of the fight so far Kakashi had had to wait until the last moment, when the sword was visible meaning it was a few inches from him, to block and counter. So far he had been doing rather well as he had not been cleaved in half by Kubikiribocho and was still standing. Although he had still not managed to get a single hit on Zabuza at all, and if he didn't start taking the lead soon, the drain of his Sharingan would become to great and he's exhaust his chakra supplies.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I'm going to have to end this soon." Kakashi said as he took a defensive stance and quickly formulated a plan, "Come at me with everything you've got" he said.

"It's your death wish" Zabuza growled before charging through the mist and bringing his sword on Kakashi, once again getting blocked by his Kunai.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto ducked under another set of shuriken thrown his way. Once Meizu had figured out close combat with Naruto and his endless supply of clones was hopeless, had resorted to keeping him at a distance with shuriken and low-level Suiton jutsu.

Running to his right he found himself next to Sasuke, and now realised that the two brothers had been attempting to get back together... and were.

"You alright, Sasuke. How'd yours get past you?" Naruto asked as he looked at his team-mate.

Frowning, Sasuke said "He used about 10 **Mizu Bunshin (Water clone) **to hold me down whilst he regrouped with his brother. You?"

Naruto looked around at about the thirty or so shuriken spread about on the floor, "He keeps a shit load of Shuriken in that pouch of his, what's in there? Fucking Narnia" Naruto complained, looking around at the product of the past 5 minutes of the battle.

"Well, shit just got a lot harder. Didn't it?" Naruto asked rhetorically, already knowing these two specialised in team combat.

"Hn, nothing we can't handle, dobe" Sasuke said putting his kunai back into his pouch.

Raising an eyebrow Naruto asked, "We gonna use it, now?" close to disbelief.

"Yes, it's time to end this, dobe." Sasuke said as he started to collect and mould chakra in his lungs. Naruto shrugged and created a shadow clone that stood on Sasuke's right, whereas he stood on his left.

"hey, Meizu. I think they're gonna do something big, shall we end it now" Gozu asked his brother with a smirk.

"Ye...I think they should see just how out classed they are. Lets do it" Meizu said as he started some hands seals, followed shortly by his brother who did the same. As they finished, a large column of water rose up from over the bridge, which quickly shaped itself into a large, dark blue two-headed water dragon that swayed about in front of its creators.

"**Suiton: Tsuin Mizudoragon (Water release: Twin water dragon)**" the brothers said in unison. "Lets see you handle our strongest collaboration technique" Meizu said with a smug grin as he looked at the two genin as they finished their seals. "Lets do this!" He shouted as the water dragon shot forward like a missile straight for the genin.

As Sasuke finished he spewed a large amount of burning flame out of his mouth in the form of a large ball, shortly after it was hit by a stream of lightning from Naruto's clone and a blast of air from Naruto himself. Shortly after contact they all coalesced into a giant white-blue version of **Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu **with bright blue crackles of lightning charging through it. The end result of the two collaborations charged down the bridge towards each other, one with a hurricane of water around it, the other with a scorching heat, both tearing up the ground as they approached each other.

As they hit both seemed to stop for a moment, each struggling back and forth for domination. That was until the fireball tore through the water dragon, destroying it instantly in a hiss and blast of hot steam, and travelled on towards the Demon brothers.

**Boom!**

Both brothers disappeared when they were caught in the deadly blast that rocked the bridge as the fireball exploded in a large blast of white-blue flame and lightning, that seemingly burned into the genin's eyes as they ducked under the explosion of rocks that flew their way.

When the bridge stopped shaking and the boys no longer had to dodge rubble, both stopped to check if the enemy was indeed dead. What was left was a large tear in the ground from were the jutsu had been shot, all the way to a large crater that centred were the Demon brothers had stood. And all that was left of them now was two burnt metal gauntlets.

Both boys stood and regained their breath, as on their part that jutsu used an extremely large amount of chakra. They were breathing heavily, sweating, bleeding and extremely tired. But both were grinning like maniacs.

"We so gotta name that... I dunno, what about **Akarui Ao Gokyakou No Jutsu (Great bright blue fireball)**, ye that sounds good. What do you think teme?" Naruto said with a gleeful smile.

"It doesn't matter what we call it, dobe, because the enemy will only hear it once before they're dead" Sasuke said coolly whilst keeping his grin on his face.

"Ye, that thing was awesome. I'm so glad I learnt that wind technique, it was such a good idea. I bet that could get labelled as an A-rank jutsu." Naruto joked, but seriously. That jutsu just tore up a stone bridge like it was wet paper. Turning to look at the mist that his teacher was in Naruto asked, "Heh, do you think we should help Kakashi-sensei?".

"hm... no. If we go into that mist we'll most likely be killed, plus if he can't handle it, how can we?" Sasuke said as he slowly sat down and deactivated his Sharingan, he still wasn't used to that small but constant drain on his chakra from when he used it. "But just in case get two food pills out"

Sitting down Naruto Naruto pulled out a pill and threw it to Sasuke, who ate it straight away. "I hope Kakashi-sensei wins" Naruto said as he lent back and waited for the mist to clear.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**A few minutes beforehand – inside of the mist**

**Boom!**

Kakashi grabbed the railing on the side of the bridge to steady himself as the aforementioned bridge shook after being hit by some very large explosive. After the shaking stopped Kakashi steadied himself and looked around for Zabuza.

"What the Fuck was that jutsu your genin just used, Kakashi?!" he heard Zabuza shout through the mist.

'Those two done that? I've definitely got to see that after this is done' Kakashi thought, shaking of the shock that they were behind that explosion. "I would like to know that aswell, but first I'm going to end you" Kakashi said as he once again searched for the impossible to find Zabuza.

"That's funny, I think I'm about to end you" Zabuza said directly behind Kakashi, causing the former's eyes to widen in shock as Kubikiribocho swung down at him, catching most of his back before he managed to jump away, causing a large spray of blood.

Kakashi landed a few meters away from were Zabuza got him, he had meant to be caught with a little less of the blade. But he smirked none the less as his plan had just started coming to fruition, Zabuza really should have killed him then but had missed anyway. Now, he would pay for his mistake.

"Your end is near, Demon of the mist" Kakashi said coolly as he ran through several hand seals before slamming his hand onto the ground.

"Ha, really? Aren't you the one who just took a cleaver to the back? It's you who's gonna di...Arghh! What the fuck!" Zabuza shouted as felt a dozen sets of canine teeth sink into his flesh.

"This is your death!" Kakashi shouted as a large blue light emanated from his hand and let of the noise of thousands of chirping birds.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Meanwhile**

"Hey, dobe! Wake up you idiot" Sasuke growled as he shook his blonde partner awake. 'How did the idiot actually manage to fall asleep in a hostile environment? It's only been a minute!' he thought as Naruto sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Awwww! Mmm, why'd you wake me up?" Naruto asked as he tried blinking back sleep.

"The mist is clearing" he replied pointing at the unravelling mist. Both boys sat there as they silently watched the mist clear, waiting to see who had won the battle. It was one of the most nerve wrecking experience either of them had ever felt, and it only lasted a few moments.

"Yes! Way to go sensei, you kick ass" Naruto shouted as he saw the fog clear with Zabuza being held still by a pack of dogs.

"Hn, it was obvious that he'd win. Or did you forget the genin test?" Sasuke asked, but also had a small smile on his face.

"No. I remember you getting your ass handed to you on a silver plater quite clearly, thank you for reminding me though" Naruto said with a laugh when he saw Sasuke's frown and a breath that sounded like the word 'dobe'.

Both boys turned to look back at their sensei and watched as his right hand suddenly became covered in lightning that let of a loud screeching noise that sound like chirping birds.

Naruto looked on in awe at the wonderful, wonderful jutsu he was somehow going to get his sensei to teach him. "I'm so gonna get him to teach me that, if he doesn't I'm gonna torch his book stash...and his house whilst I'm at it" he said to Sasuke.

Sasuke snorted, "As funny as that would be dobe, he'd kill you afterwards" Sasuke rebuked him.

Naruto looked like a wounded puppy when he heard this, but then suddenly smiled. "Aw, you care whether I live or not, I care about you to Sasuke-chan" he said with a large grin.

"On second thoughts, do it" Sasuke said, somewhat irritated by his partner.

Both boys then watched in anticipation as Kakashi charged at Zabuza at a speed that was far beyond their level, and amazed them at how fast it was. They watched as the pure power of the jutsu tore the ground to pieces as their sensei ran at the soon-to-be victim. And what they saw next shocked them, their sensei had went to jab Zabuza through the heart, but was stopped as the body of a girl got in the way of the jutsu. As Haku got into the way of the jutsu.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi looked down in shock as his arm was elbow deep into Haku's chest and mere inches from her heart. He had seen her appear in-front of him at the last second, but couldn't change the course of his attack. It was too late now, the only way she would be saved is if she got to a medic-nin, and soon.

As blood dripped out of her mouth, her heart slowed, her vision dimmed and the world slowly went black, Haku turned and smiled at her master. "M-Master...I'm S-...Sorry I fai-...failed y-y-you" she said as her breath escaped her, her heart slowed and her vision went black.

Zabuza had watched in shock as Haku had saved him, in disbelief as he felt her blood splatter on his face and in a slow stream of tears as he heard her last words and watched her death. Ripping his right arm free from the dogs, with pieces of his flesh being ripped out with it, and much pain, he didn't care about that though as he caught the body that slipped from Kakashi's arm.

Holding up her body, looking at Haku's limp body, "No, Haku, I am sorry I failed you" he whispered remorsefully as he kissed her forehead. "Goodbye". He said as the tears fell from his face onto hers.

Kakashi, seeing that Zabuza was no longer a threat, called of his ninken who disappeared in puffs of smoke. Turning around he saw Naruto and Sasuke standing behind him with sombre looks on their faces. "Well done you two, you did great" he said.

"Ye, ye. Did you expect anything else from us, sensei?!" Naruto joked half heartedly as he looked down at the body of Haku, and teary demon of the mist.

"I have to agree with the dobe, if only this once" Sasuke said, but like Naruto couldn't quite bring himself to be his normal self with the tragic seen before their eyes.

Sighing, Kakashi turned back to Zabuza who was starting to stand up, sword at the ready. "Give up, Zabuza, you can't possibly win like this. Both of your arms are only just able to lift that sword" Kakashi said as he watched Zabuza take a step forward, arms shaking under the weight of Kubikiribocho.

"I'm dead either way, Hatake. Let's end this" Zabuza said back and started swinging Kubikiribocho at Kakashi.

Grunting, Kakashi caught Kubikiribocho with his Kunai, "If that is how you want it, lets" He said as he pushed the sword off of his kunai. Quickly braking into a set of jabs and slashes, Kakashi tried to break Zabuza's guard but still found it extremely hard. Even with his damaged arms and body from the dogs teeth.

Disengaging from Zabuza, Kakashi looked next to him to see a grinning Naruto and Sasuke. "Want some help, sensei?" Naruto asked with his sword drawn once again.

Sasuke was standing ready next to Kakashi with a smirk, "Hn, you seem to be tiring, sensei" was Sasuke's way of offering help.

Kakashi smiled and nodded, "Yes, but you two are going to be providing long-range support. Close range combat with Zabuza would be your deaths" he said seriously, but couldn't help but to be proud of his students for standing up to such a strong opponent.

Naruto nodded and put his sword back inside of a scroll. "Sure thing sensei, We'll end this in no time. And then we can brag that we took down an A-S -rank missing-nin, heh, the others are so gonna be jealous" Naruto said as he pulled a food pill out.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "I would definitely like to see that, alright. You better get ready. Aim for blind spots and try to disrupt his attacks with kunai, if you see a chance aim for the kill, but don't go for anything obvious because it's most likely a trap. Alright, go" Kakashi said running in and engaging Zabuza, albeit a lot slower than earlier as his chakra levels were nearing 0 due to his over use of the Sharingan.

"I told you to have a food pill earlier, dobe" Sasuke said as he watched the dance of death that his sensei and Zabuza were performing. Even with them not being at one hundred percent, they never seemed to miss a beat or miss-step. They were truly deadly, even when tired.

"Ye, ye, bitch all ya like. I'll only need a few seconds for this pill to boost my chakra levels" Naruto said as he swallowed a food pill, instantly feeling his chakra coming back to him. Pulling out some shuriken Naruto said "I say we do a little more than cover Kakashi's ass. I say we get that bastard"

"Hn, I have to agree with you, dobe let's do it" Sasuke said pulling out some shuriken

"Right, let's go".

"Hn"

Kakashi was really starting feel the fumes of chakra he was running on start to leave him, if this didn't end soon he would run out of chakra and surely die. Kakashi ducked under a high slash from Zabuza and then kicked out at his legs trying to catch his ankles, Zabuza predictably jumped over his legs with ease but had to block some shuriken that had tried to catch him of guard.

Ignoring the two long-range support ninja, Zabuza proceeded to rush Kakashi. First trying to split him in half with a quick slash down the middle, but he stepped to the side. Growling in annoyance Zabuza switched his grip and went for a backhanded slash at his waist, but met with thin air again as Kakashi took a step back. Moving forward to meet Kakashi in a spree of slashes, parries and evasion, Zabuza started to lose his temper as he felt three shuriken hit his right leg and two hit his left.

Taking a step back he avoided a sword swipe from 'Naruto' and kicked him in the chest, dispelling him in a puff of smoke. Quickly raising Kubikiribocho he blocked a swipe for his head from Kakashi, but had to pull out a kunai in his left hand to start blocking some attacks from some Naruto clones. As Kakashi and Naruto clones worked on his defences, Kakashi held Zabuza's attention as Naruto worked on slowly wearing him down with multiple cuts to his body. Whilst that was happening the real Naruto would constantly make more clones as they got destroyed, aswell as assisting Sasuke in covering Kakashi with long-range projectiles. After a while Zabuza was like a pincushion for many, many shuriken and was covered in the amassed cuts that Naruto's clones and Kakashi had made.

"Relying on the twerps a lot now, aren't you?" Zabuza growled as he blocked a slash from Kakashi's kunai.

"Yep, makes this easier. Plus they could use the experience" Kakashi said as he pushed against Kubikiribocho.

"Hn" Zabuza grunted, "Ye, that's if I don't kill them" he said pushing Kakashi a few feet away from him, going to swing his sword down he instantly had to block a few kunai and shuriken, halting his attack and allowing Kakashi to regain his balance. "Annoying little brats".

"Heh, gotta love myself there" Kakashi said, mentally thanking them for the save. Hearing a large roar in the air Kakashi turned to see Sasuke releasing a **Katon: Gokyakou No Jutsu **as it flew from his mouth towards Zabuza in a swirling blaze of heat.

Zabuza, seeing the large fireball, jumped back several feet to avoid the ball of death. Hearing the sound of metal tearing through the air turned to deflect several shuriken that came from Naruto, who was now finishing a hand seal.

"**Kaminari Rinku Shuriken (Lightning chain shuriken)**" Naruto shouted.

The shuriken that Zabuza had deflected and now surrounded him suddenly started letting of crackling noises as lines of blue appeared on them. Shortly after the crackling multiple lines of lightning energy shot inwards towards Zabuza, engulfing him in a blue light of energy that shocked him to within an inch of his life.

"ARGGHH!" Zabuza cried as the lightning shot through his body, frying his muscles and insides. When the lightning stopped Zabuza dropped to his knees and looked up to see Naruto and Sasuke in-front of him finishing a set of seals.

"This is your end, Zabuza" Sasuke said just before releasing a very familiar fireball that met a gale of wind from Naruto, turning it into a raging torrent of white flame that engulfed Zabuza in seconds. The flame lasted a few seconds, but still managed to burn everything away. After the flame cleared, nothing was left apart from a black scorch mark on the floor, ash, and Kubikiribocho sticking out of the stone, marking the death of Zabuza Momoichi.

"Phew, thank my lucky stars that's over." Naruto said, breathing heavily. "How the hell did he last so long? He must have been tired from fighting Kakashi-sensei in that bloody mist, then he was covered in a ton of injuries thanks to Kakashi-sensei's mutts. But no, that wasn't enough was it. He had enough energy to fight Kakashi one-handed with a giant ass cleaver, about 50 clones, at the same time as Kakashi-sensei, with a kunai. A fucking kunai! And lastly he still managed to move with about 20 shuriken sticking out of him. What was he? I'm not sure if he was lucky, amazingly good, blessed by a deity or just a fucking glutton for pain?" Naruto complained in disbelief at how Zabuza had managed to tank through just about anything. Seriously, that man deserved a medal when he got to the next life for making death wait for so long.

"I …. think … I know what...you mean" Sasuke panted as he stood next to Naruto, even he thought the man should have just rolled over and died a long time ago. Even if it was just to stop wasting his time.

Hobbling over to his two genin, Kakashi put a hand on their shoulders. "You two did great, I do believe you two will get bragging rights over this" Kakashi said with a tired smile. " I am going to enjoy the looks on Gai's, Kurenai's and Asuma's faces when I tell them what you've done here today. Plus I'm gonna get a free night of drinks out of it" Kakashi said with a laugh.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a sweat-dropped expression, "He comes out of a life or death scenario, boasting about the free drinks he's gonna get" Naruto said in annoyance. Sighing, Naruto pulled out a scroll and walked up to Kubikiribocho.

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi asked "Naruto, what are you doing?". Not sure what he was going to do, but curious all the same.

Setting the scroll down, Naruto said " when you made us read all that pointless shit on Zabuza, Kirigakure fighting style's, The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure, and lastly the silent killing technique, there was one very important thing I learnt".

Swelling with pride Kakashi looked at his student, "And what would that be?" he asked, knowing no matter the answer he'd be proud that his student was learning from him.

Smiling Naruto wrapped the scroll around Kubikiribocho, "This sword is bad-fucking-ass and I want it" Naruto said with a huge grin and looked round to see that his sensei had slapped himself in the face. "What? Legendary sword meet aspiring young swordsman, aspiring young swordsman meet legendary sword, it was bound to happen. Did you think I'd leave this beauty behind?" Naruto asked with a laugh, "It's now my little – or not so little – baby" he finished with a gleeful smile as the sword disappeared in a puff of smoke. Picking up the scroll, he walked back towards his sensei.

"uh, I thought you were about to say something I could be proud in, something smart. Not 'Oh, a new sword'" sighing he turned back towards Haku's body. "Naruto, create a clone to take Haku's body, the least we can do is bury her".

A shadow clone appeared next to Naruto and went to collect Haku's body. Everyone took their time to sit down after their hard-won battles, everyone was looking forward to the long sleep they'd be having. The fights had been long and hard for everyone, especially Kakashi's. He was exhausted from his long fight with the Sharingan, it was taking a lot for him to just stay awake. Naruto was exhausted from making nearly 100 clones, firing a wind jutsu multiple times, a B-A-rank lightning jutsu, using another lightning jutsu and was now recovering from the use of a food pill. The down side to using them was once you stop using chakra for a little while, the excess chakra that was rapidly produced within your system starts making you feel like you've run multiple marathons, one after the other. Sasuke wasn't feeling any better, probably worse. Seeing as how he had about half the amount of chakra Naruto had, he felt like he'd just run those marathons with Sakura on his back and weights on his legs. All in all they were all looking forward to that rest they were going to have now that there was -

"well, I'll be fucked. Boss, you gotta come see this" shouted Naruto's clone.

- nothing left to do.

Looking over to his clone, Naruto shouted "What!" with a large amount of anger and exasperation in his voice. Could he seriously not get a break.

"Umm, the girl. She's alive" the clone said slowly, as if it didn't believe its own words.

Hearing this though had everyone at the girl's side in seconds. A wide-eyed Kakashi checked her over and realised that she was still breathing and her heart was beating, but very, very slowly. He also realised the hole he'd made in the girls chest wasn't bleeding, and upon closer inspection saw why. Haku had covered the wound in ice so that she didn't bleed to death, but the ice was mostly melted now and she was starting to bleed.

"Shit, Naruto, have you still got that medical kit on you?" Kakashi asked as he looked down at the dying girl, eyes still wide in disbelief. In all rightness that girl should have been dead, but by a stroke of luck, and skill on her part, she was still alive if only barely.

"On it" Naruto said taking out several sealing scrolls and taking the things out of them that he needed. Ripping off Haku's shirt Naruto ignored everything else and quickly put on several layers of bandages to help stop the blood flowing from her. After that he crushed a blood pill and put it in a small bottle of water, which he then proceeded to pore down her throat, very slowly and carefully so not to drown her. The blood pill mainly being used to replenish any blood she would soon lose.

Turning to his sensei Naruto said "We've got to get her to Sakura and hope she at least knows how to stop the bleeding, after that we'll need to get her to Konoha hospital and quickly". Sakura may be able to stop the bleeding but Naruto knew she wouldn't be able to properly close the wound or fix the internal injuries that she had. She needed to be at Konoha hospital and soon.

"Understood, you go take her to Sakura, it looks like me and Sasuke are going to have to deal with some pests" Kakashi said calmly, knowing what Naruto said was right and was also looking at a large group of trouble.

Not understanding the last part, Naruto looked around to see about a hundred mercenary thugs but no ninja. Scooping Haku up into his arms he nodded to Sasuke and Kakashi before he started running to look for Sakura.

"You ready Sasuke" Kakashi asked his student, "this shouldn't be to hard to handle".

"Hn, like they could challenge me" Sasuke said before charging into the centre of the group, running through them like a hot knife through butter.

"Well, he's certainly coming along well" Kakashi said before running to join his student.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Tazuna household – later on that evening**

Sakura sat beside Haku as she tried to maintain the healing jutsu she was using, **Shosen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique)**. She was barely even able to use the jutsu as it required large amounts of knowledge on the human anatomy, a lot of chakra and extremely good control. She had the required chakra control in abundance, she had the knowledge, but the constant drain on chakra was eating away at her reserves very quickly, and the concentration of putting all this together and still managing to do it was killing her.

Haku had lost quite a bit of blood when Naruto had brought her back, but thanks to his good skill with bandaging and the blood pill he'd had the prudence to give her had made her body constantly produce enough to keep her alive. Sakura was mainly focusing on trying to reattach the two arteries that had been severed when Kakashi-sensei had put a hole in her chest, but was finding it very difficult. She wouldn't be able to do anything complicated like the cell regeneration for her skin, to fill the hole in her chest, or restructuring the bones that had been destroyed in her ribcage or put all the severed veins back together. All of those things were far beyond her skill, heck the arteries were beyond her skill, she was just trying to make it more likely that Haku would make it back to Konoha alive and not bleed to death along the way.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted to the blonde, who was sitting next to her, although he was nearly asleep. "I need a food pill, quickly. My jutsu is running on fumes"

"Sure thing, here" Naruto said putting a pill into her mouth before yawning tiredly. "How long before we can move her to Konoha hospital" he asked.

"I don't think she should be moved at all, my skill is bare minimal with this, but all I'm trying to do is stop blood coming from the arteries so that she bleeds less when we move her. We can give her blood pills at regular intervals on the journey back to Konoha to replace any blood she's lost, but the problem is with doing that is that if she has too many of them she'll die from overdose. So, we'll have to space out the gaps we give them to her as far as possible" Sakura said with a sigh, even with this food pill she knew she was going to run out of chakra again soon. This was it only restored the maximum amount of chakra you were capable of holding, and for her that was still very little. So, she needed to have this done soon.

"Ye, I thought that's what we'd be doing. Seeing as how she has a class IV haemorrhage, she would be needing those or we'd be more worried about resuscitation right now. Added to that she has an entry and exit point for the protrusion – aka Kakashi-sensei's arm – which only multiplies the danger." sighing in anger Naruto rubbed his temples.

"We're lucky she hasn't gone into peripheral hypo-perfusion, if she had things would be much worse. But I think that's because she didn't start bleeding until after the fight due to her ice thing that stopped her from bleeding out, and whenever she lost blood we've used blood pills to refill her blood supply. But seeing as she's gonna continue to bleed out internally and externally she'll have a lot more problems soon.

When we get to Konoha she'll probably be unable to maintain homeostasis due to the constant loss and regaining of her blood, meaning things will happen to her internally, things like Metabolic acidosis, hypotension, and hypothermia. If this happens they'll likely have to perform a damage control surgery to stabilize her. All in all, we hit one brick wall to plow into a steel one. I hate my life." he said exasperatedly, things where seriously going to hit the fan and soon. Looking to his left he saw Sakura looking at him with wide eyes. "What?" he questioned.

"H-How the hell did you know all that?" Sakura spluttered, not believing what she just heard the biggest idiot she'd ever known say.

"I read all of those medical books before I gave them to you. I can't perform medical-ninjutsu because I lack the chakra control for it, but that doesn't mean that I can't do it all the old fashion way if need be. So I decided to learn a lot of medical things, although I haven't practiced anything I know a shit load of theory." Naruto answered before standing up. "the others are back, I'm gonna kick Kakashi-sensei's ass for not teaching the jutsu that he used to put a hole in Haku, then I'm gonna kick his ass for putting it through her, and then I'm gonna ask him about who's gonna escort her back to Konoha... And then just kick his ass whilst he's to tired to fight back" Naruto said with a shadow of a smile before leaving.

Sakura looked at the door after Naruto left for a while, before going back to what she had been doing. 'How have you changed so much, Naruto? First you become sensible, stop wearing those hideous clothes and become a good fighter. Now you're best friends with Sasuke-kun and I don't even know how, you use your brains more than bluster, and now you're sprouting out medical facts like you've known them for years. Were the hell is the real Naruto?' Sakura thought as she continued to do her best for Haku.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi sighed heavily as he and Sasuke sat down at the dinner table. They had just got back from annihilating Gato and his men, whom had been nothing more than meat shields for the businessman behind it all, which had been killed slightly after the battle. The way back here had seemed far longer than they'd expected, but noted it down to their tiredness. After explaining how they'd won and killed Gato and his army, Tazuna and his family had all thanked him profusely, Inari had even went as far as to call him a Hero. Kakashi had graciously accepted their thanks and told them his genin were just as responsible for the win as he was.

Kakashi couldn't help but to enjoy his well deserved peace -

"Sensei!"

- and quiet. Looking round he saw Naruto standing next to him with his arm raised and couldn't help but to curse his awful luck.

CRACK!

Kakashi's head snapped back around so that he was looking at the smirking face of Sasuke. Rubbing his jaw Kakashi looked at his blonde student, " I guess that was for stabbing Haku" he said back to him in an even tone.

"No. That was for not teaching me that awesome jutsu, especially as you knew about my lightning affinity" Naruto said with a glare that almost froze his core. He thought Naruto took his jutsu seriously, but not seriously enough to kill his injured sensei, right?

CRACK!

Whilst he had thought about what Naruto had said he'd been sucker punched by Naruto again.

"That was for stabbing her, why didn't you stop your attack?" Naruto asked coldly, and Kakashi felt shivers tun down his back.

"In order of problems, can't teach a genin an A-ranked assassination justu, Hokage-sama would probably lock me in a mental asylum if I did. Also it requires a Sharingan to use properly" Kakashi said rubbing his jaw still.

"Wait!" Sasuke said now interested in the conversation, "Why does it require a Sharingan to master?".

"because ... Naruto, why the hell did you hit me so hard. I think one of my teeth are going to come out" Kakashi complained as he prodded the tooth that currently felt like it was on fire. Also how could Naruto hit so hard, he must have really gone one up on his training regimen.

Naruto just shrugged, "Because there was no way in hell that you could dodge it, so I decided to make it worth while".

"Huh, should have thought about that. Anyway, to answer your question, Sasuke. When you use the **Chidori (1000 Birds) **it requires that you move at a very fast pace to help build and maintain the lightning chakra in my hand, but when moving at that speed anyone who isn't at least jounin or a Sharingan wielder would not be able to change direction or avoid being killed whilst using it. All it would take is for someone to sidestep your jab and then they could stab you whilst you couldn't move, or just throw some shuriken at you whilst you run in a straight line." Kakashi said before looking at Naruto, "you look like you wanted to say something else though".

"I did. As soon as Sakura has finished doing what she can, we're gonna have to take her back to Konoha immediately if we want her to live, even if we have to abort the mission. The way I see it is we abort and let Tazuna get his money back, get a slight amount of bad rep for aborting the mission, but in reality we can leave knowing that we've taken care of everything that Gato has and any ninja he'd hired. And then we save Haku's life and gain a bloodline limit for Konoha. What do you think, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said weighing up the pro's and con's.

Nodding his head in acceptance Kakashi said, "You're right on all points Naruto, But we don't have to abort the mission. I asked Tazuna if he felt satisfied with what we'd done and he declared the mission complete, we're free to leave whenever we need. So, why don't you both go get packed and ready to leave". When he finished Sasuke got up and went to get ready, but Naruto stayed.

"Umm, about Haku's ... service for Konoha" Naruto said as he appeared somewhat uncomfortable.

Raising an eyebrow he looked at his student, "Yes?".

"well, seeing as I'm going to be induced as head of the newly founded Uzumaki clan of Konoha I decided to look up some of the clan laws and things like it" Naruto said.

Kakashi, though surprised as he hadn't heard anything about Konoha raising an Uzumaki clan in Konoha, nodded for Naruto to carry on.

"When I did I came across the law about if we capture a Kekkei Genkai user and decided to read up on it. Well, I found out that if another Kekkei Genkai user came to Konoha of their own free will and offered their allegiance to Konoha they wouldn't be forced to do the same... things as a captured one would" Naruto said more awkwardly than at first, he even seemed rather nervous.

"Yes, that is true. But Haku is a captured nin not the other" Kakashi said, stating the facts evenly. He knew that his cold demeanor would tick Naruto off, and knew what he was about ask of him – he was going to do it anyway – but wanted to see if Naruto would go through with it as it could get him put in jail.

"W-Well, I was hoping you could tell the Hokage that we saved her from Zabuza and she offered to join Konoha in return, so that she doesn't have to be forced into marriage and the ... other things" Naruto said, his distain for ' the other things' quite clear.

They both looked at each other in silence for a few minutes, Kakashi seemingly contemplating what his student had asked, but in reality just wanted to make him sweat a little. Especially after the little bastard had nearly knocked his tooth out. After he could see Naruto had sweated it out enough, Kakashi decided to answer him before he panicked or passed out or something.

"You know what you just asked me to do is considered betrayal and can get us killed as traitors, right?" Kakashi asked calmly as he watched Naruto twitch and nod his head. 'Oh the sweet irony of revenge' Kakashi thought with a smile.

Suddenly standing up he ruffled Naruto's hair, "Sure, I was going to do it anyway. You best go tell those two so that they don't blow our cover though" Kakashi said before walking of to inform the Tazuna and his family of their departure. Smiling all the more as he heard the indignant shout of "asshole" come from Naruto.

* * *

I've been thinking I should add a list of new jutsu at the end of every chapter, so I'm going to from now on, but first all jutsu used up to this point.

Jutsu list:

Lightning Release: Raiton :

- Lightning release: Electromagnetic Murder (Raiton: Jibashi)

Rank: C-short to mid-range

Requirements: none.

This technique allows the user to create a wave of electricity from their hands. The user can vary its power from a small surge to shock an opponent to a powerful stream of lightning capable of ripping through solid rock. It is ideal to use in conjunction with a water technique.

- Lightning Release: Lightning Shuriken (Raiton: Kaminari Shuriken)

Rank: C-any range

Requirement: Shuriken.

The user augments the shuriken with Raiton chakra then throws it above his enemy. This will rain down several bolts of lightning towards the opponent.

- Lightning release: Lightning Chain Shuriken (Raiton: Kaminari Rinku Shuriken)

Rank: C-Any range

Requirement: shuriken

Much like Kaminari Shuriken the user augments the shuriken with Raiton chakra then throws it around his enemy. This will fire of several small bolts of lightning towards the opponent.

* note: the unnamed lightning jutsu Naruto uses in the Collaboration technique *

- Lightning release: False Darkness (Raiton: Gian)

Rank: B-Any range

Requirements: the insane ability that is know as Ninjutsu.

The user emits lightning in the shape of a spear from his mouth, which then pierces the enemy. Its destructive power is great enough to even pierce through rock; meaning it has a high killing potential. The user can increase the number of spears to attack multiple enemies. This, coupled with the sheer speed of the lightning, makes it a difficult technique to evade. This technique is capable of being focused into a straight beam, similar to a laser.

- Lightning Release: Static Death (Raiton: Seiteki Nashi)

Rank: D- within the kunai boundary

Requirements: Kunai

The user sets up a square are with the corners being marked with Kunai. Once the enemy is within the square you either have to fire a lightning jutsu at one of the kunai, or touch one and feed lightning chakra into it yourself. The result is the lightning chakra travels down the kunai into the ground electrifying anything within the kunai area that is touching the floor.

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Water release: Suiton:

- Water Style: Water Armour (Suiton: Mizu no Yoroi)

Rank: D

A thin layer of water covers the user's whole body. It gives him/her a small protection by dampening the effects from (D-C Rank) fire techniques by cutting the damage done by them in half and does stand up against taijutsu. While the armor is on, it constantly draws out small amounts of the user's chakra until it runs out.

- Water clone (Mizu Bunshin)

Rank: D

A clone of the user created out of water, can attack as it is a physical manifestation, but will dispel after being hit.

- Water release: Twin water dragon (Suiton: Tsuin Mizudoragon)

Rank: B-Mid to short range

This technique shapes a large amount of water into a giant, powerful two-headed dragon, which hits the opponent with formidable might, dealing physical damage. stronger version of Water dragon bullet.

- Water release: Water Gun (Suiton: Suigan)

Rank: C- Mid-short range

Users spews out a high pressure torrent of water at the enemy from their mouth. designed to cause blunt physical damage.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Wind Release: Fuuton :

* Note: Naruto's unnamed wind jutsu that is used in the collaboration *

- Wind Release: Air Drilling bullet (Fuuton: Renkuudan) 

Rank: C-S- long range

User takes a deep breath, and then pound his stomach to apply external pressure, the power of which he uses to shoot a highly compressed air ball from his mouth. The power of this jutsu varies highly depending on control and the amount of chakra put into it. A weak one can knock someone off of their feet, a strong one can level an entire forest but requires a lot of chakra (Kage/ jinchuriki/ Uzumaki level) and a high amount of control with wind chakra.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Fire Release: Katon :

- Fire Release: Phoenix flower Jutsu (Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu)

Rank: C- Mid range

This technique creates a volley of small fireballs, which are sent flying in an unpredictable manner assaulting the enemy. In addition, the flames are controlled one by one with chakra, so avoiding them all is extremely difficult. Shuriken can also be concealed within the flames, creating an unexpected secondary surprise attack. Like the flames, the shuriken can be controlled with chakra. For the most part, however, this technique is used as a distraction.

- Fire Release: Great Fire Ball Jutsu (Katon: Gokyakou no Jutsu)

Rank: C- Short range

A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire, and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flame-thrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered. The released flames will engulf their target, and leave a crater on the ground's surface. This technique apparently requires more than average chakra reserves and most genin should not be able to do this technique.

- Fire Release: Great Bright Blue Fireball (Akarui Ao Gokyakou No Jutsu)

Rank: A- Short-Mid range

A collaboration technique where one person fires Katon: Gokyakou no Jutsu, another fires Fuuton: Renkuudan and one last person (or clone) fires Raiton: Gian from their mouths. These three attacks converge and coalesce to form a white-blue fireball 2 to 3 times bigger than Katon: Gokyakou no Jutsu with large streaks of lightning running through it. This attack takes a lot of Chakra ( even Naruto feels somewhat tired afterwards), focus and a good amount of chakra control to fuse together the three attacks. But, once done successfully it is a far more dangerous jutsu than any of the previous three as it travels at a great speed, can burn anything other than chakra infused metal and has a large explosion that can tear through stone.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xX

Also I'll give a quick run down of the medical points:

- Class IV Hemorrhage involves loss of 40% of circulating blood volume. The limit of the body's compensation is reached and aggressive resuscitation is required to prevent death. The only reason Haku was alive was due to her eating blood pills, which kept refilling her blood supply.

- peripheral hypoperfusion: it basically means the person has gone into shock, damn medics having to put a fancy spin on their work just to make them look clever. Assholes, all of them, that is until they save your life.

- homeostasis: generally means our regular state of being. things like keeping our regular BPM, acid levels and temperature, that sort of thing.

- metabolic acidosis: In medicine , metabolic acidosis is a condition that occurs when the body produces too much acid or when the kidneys are not removing enough acid from the body, which can in turn lead to... a fuck load of problems.

- Hypotension: **hypotension** is abnormally low blood pressure, especially in the arteries of the system circulation. Once again can cause many, many problems.

- Hypothermia: Anyone who doesn't know what this is and is older than twelve should go find out for themselves.

Well, there you have it. First things first, why on earth did no-one take Kubikirikocho the first time around, it's friggin awesome. It's the Naruto equivalent of Zangetsu, and in my opinion has a better name and shape. It's a sexy fucking sword that could cleave a person in two like he was wet paper, I would so~ introduce it to my annoying little sister. And if anyone ever took the piss out of me owning it or the sword itself, the first thing I'd say is "Bitch Please" and then slice them into pork cutlets.

Also did you enjoy the Haku multi plot twist, oh she's captured and is gonna live a crappy hell life. Oh she's free and can escape said life. No she died. Shit, she's alive? back to the crappy life for you, oh no wait, I've changed my mind. Did you really think I'd be cruel enough to actually do anything else, or did you think I'd use it to pair her off with Naruto? Hahaha, no. But she might still pair with him in the future, who knows. I do :). But how will she now handle the news that her master is dead, will she blame Konoha, team 7, kill herself, or just get over it with someone by her side? who knows, I do.

Furthermore, Naruto's little spouting of medical knowledge, too over the top, Okay or great. review and tell me what you think and I'll see if I can change what it is you didn't like.

By the way I'll never get tired of doing that to you. Does anyone know why, I do. Because it's awesomely annoying for the people that have to hear (read) it.

I would also like you to know I spent most of the morning locked out of my house. After having a game of football with some mates at a park, I lost my keys and couldn't get back in. Going back to said field I had to walk over it's entire surface to look for them, It's like a mile sqaured, (1 mile in length and width) finally found them and decided to come home and take my anger out on Gozu and Meizu with the fireball from gods ass. Tell me what you think about that anyway, to good, not good enough. you get the Idea.

Well, see you all with the next release, and I hope you enjoyed. If so leave a review and you'll have good luck all day long ... Maybe.


	8. Neo Sannin

**Zera of the Half Moon: Don't worry, my brother beat you to that sucker punch, and then i beat him up a little bit more than a lot, and now I must feel the need to say innocent until proven guilty * smiles evilly and laughs maniacally *. Also Sasuke and Sakura have always made me want to bitch slap Masashi Kishimoto for making possibly excellent characters people I hate, life sucks when you're not the author. But this time around I am and I'm changing that shit up, especially Sasuke.**

**ThatProdigy: thats been mentioned to me a few times and I'm sitting on the fence about making Naruto a Senju, but hey if enough people ask for it it shall be done.**

**roboguy45: first of all who will Haku go for, Naruto or Sasuke, Who knows, i do! and you don't, shame isn't it. I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out.**

**And then the jutsu vomit thing, I know. It's also slightly disturbing, has Kishi got some sort of fetish for Vomit. But it could have came from worse places.**

**Darkryus: JAIMOL: Naruto's abilities will continue to grow, he wont gain many more jutsu for a while but will mainly focus on furthering and mastering what he already has.**

**Belthezzor: Yep, sorry. Mistake on my part, but it makes it better for charater development because now there is the possibilty he will have precise chakra control seeing as now he doesn't have as much.**

**Rikudou Naruto: Thank you. I've been thinking about Amaru for a while and still haven't decided, but Mei is very likely a she'd make for a good bit of excitment , plot filler and overall fun to right with.**

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Thank you, thank you. That is what i was aiming for and I'm glad someone told me it worked well.  
**

**dbtiger63: As said to Zera, that is what i'm aiming for. I'm also hoping to have the fill each others holes (I will never say that again about a male pair * shivers uncontrollably *) in regards to chakra, genjutsu, precision and all out destruction. **

* * *

**Neo Sannin**

Naruto smiled as he walked through the gates of Konoha. For him it had been to long without the sight of home. "Kakashi-sensei, should I take Haku to the hospital now?" Naruto asked tiredly, mainly because he had just ran for a day and a half straight, without rest and with a girl on his back. The entire trip from Wave to Konoha Naruto had been recovering from the mammoth amount of chakra he had used, and now wanted to just pass out onto his bed.

"No. There's a medic team approaching, I sent a messenger bird ahead telling him to be ready. Just hand her over to them, look, here they come" Kakashi said pointing the group of people approaching with white garbs on that covered them from head to toe.

In Naruto's opinion, he thought they looked more like workers at the mental clinic, but handed Haku over to them as they put her down on a stretcher and rushed her off to get her straight to a surgery room. Hopefully she'd be alright so that Naruto could help her out, he felt obligated to after he had killed her only purpose in life. But, more than that he felt no-one should live how she did, as a weapon and not a person.

He found the whole thing Ironic aswell. Here he was a human weapon living a sheltered and soft life, whereas she was a normal person becoming someone else's tool, a weapon for others uses. But he decided to think on it later, he needed to find his bed and dive face first into it and not wake for 24 hours, at least. He was going to hibernate better than any other animal could.

"What now, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked looking all as bad as Naruto, except she was being carried by Kakashi due to all out exhaustion.

"Well, you're all dismissed for the week. Due to the level of mission that turned into, extenuating circumstances and all that. I'm going to take you home, seeing as how you can't walk. And then I'm going to go report the mission summary to Hokage-sama. You can do whatever you like, but I would suggest some sleep." Kakashi said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Later dobe" Sasuke said before walking of towards the Uchiha compound.

"I guess that's me on my lonesome, heh, time to reacquaint myself with my mattress" Naruto said with a smirk as he walked towards his home.

After walking though Konoha streets for half an hour of endless glares, hushed insults and being made to feel worthless, Naruto ended up at his crappy apartment door. Feeling tired from his journey/ ungodly-death fight in Wave, all he wanted to do was go to sleep and eat some instant ramen. But just before he put his key into the lock his apartment landlord came around the corner.

"Oi, brat"

Sighing, Naruto turned to the one-of-many biased people towards his jailer duties, I.e being a 'Demon'. "What, I've paid my rent so no bitchin'" Naruto said with a hint of anger and exasperation. In the past the landlord had tried to kick him out many times for that reason hoping the Hokage didn't realise that Naruto was no longer there, but the Hokage found out each and every time. And punished him every time. So, he gave up on that trick and started trying other things, like complaining to the Hokage like a bitch about every indiscretion on his case.

The landlord smiled smugly and pointed at the apartment. "The Hokage has finally ordered that you are evicted, thank Kami for that aswell, no telling when you would finally become the demon you are and destroy my building. Now, you have one hour to collect everything you can and leave, everything left behind will be burnt" he said, never once losing that grin, something that annoyed Naruto.

"Fine, I'll be sure to tell the Hokage about your Bijuu infestation problem. I'll remember your kindness though and make sure your 'your building' isn't shut down as a consequence, you know, for telling me about an S-class secret and all" Naruto shot back at the old fool and smiled in victory as he saw the smile fall from the landlords face as he turned pale. 'Oh sweet revenge, you go so perfectly with sarcasm. Maybe I should do that more often, it feels so good to be me right now... wait, why did jiji order my eviction, I need to talk to the old man about this' Naruto thought as he walked past the stammering landlord and into his apartment.

After about twenty minutes Naruto had used his spare sealing scrolls to seal all of his books, scrolls, weapons , clothes, team 7 photo and anything else he couldn't replace at some point. And just for kicks, piled all of his stuff he didn't need, tv, bed and other things, into a large pile and set them on fire.

Walking out of the apartment he smiled and waved to his former landlord, "I'm all done now. By the way I set everything else on fire like you wanted" he said as some black smoke started to trickle out of the front door, and laughed as the landlord screamed like a girl and ran into the flat.

'Right, time to see jiji' he thought as he set off for the Hokage tower.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

(Meanwhile – Hokage's Tower)

Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office with a nagging itch that told him one of his students had just done something rash, dangerous or stupid, maybe all three. And he had a very good idea which one that would be, but decided to ignore the itch and carry on with what he was doing. Let some one else deal with him.

"Hello Hokage-sama, I've come to give my mission report. Oh, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma, what are you doing here?" Kakashi said, realising his co-workers were here.

"Hello my youthful rival, have a youthful mission with your genin and their flames of youth?" Gai said/shouted with an eye blinding smile and a nice guy pose to match, his green spandex suit creaking at the movement.

Picking at his ear with his little finger Kakashi looked at Gai, "Sorry, you say something Gai?" he said nonchalantly.

A deflated Gai looked at his eternal rival, "Damn you and your hip attitude, Kakashi" he said sourly.

"Funny as always Kakashi, but we are here to tell Hokage-sama that we are entering our teams in the chunin, saves us the trouble of doing it later on" Kurenai said.

"Yours aswell, I was just going to enter mine a few days beforehand, but I might aswell enter them now seeing as I'm here" Kakashi said.

"Really? With Naruto? I've read your teams file report and I have to say three things, Naruto's got no chakra control and is an idiot, Sasuke isn't willing to work with anyone and Sakura is a fan girl. How on earth are they going to pass" Asuma said in bewilderment. Everyone was also thinking the same thing, in the jounin lounge everyone was joking that the only team to ever pass Kakashi's test happened to be one of the worst teams in history, and he wanted to enter them into one big death match.

"Ha, please don't even bother. I believe I have three prodigies on my hands that are the second coming of the Sannin. They could destroy this test without even trying" Kakashi said trying to hold back from full blown laughter, mainly because h knew if he read that report he'd be thinking the same thing as them, but he knew differently.

Everyone, including the Hokage who knew all about Naruto's improvement, was beyond shock at Kakashi's outburst. All who knew Kakashi could openly say he never bragged, never lied to his friends (Kurenai, Asuma and Gai) was never as adamant about something as he was this and would never laugh at something that wasn't what he thought a joke – which showed what he thought of that report- .

"You have to be kidding me, them?" Asuma asked in poorly hidden disbelief.

"Oh, you don't believe me? Very well I'll tell about their growth since the genin exams and this mission, in which – by-the-way – they helped me kill Zabuza Momoichi the demon of the bloody mist, and Naruto is now the new holder of Kubikiribocho" Kakashi said with a raised eyebrow at Asuma's disbelief.

"What?" the Hokage shouted hearing what Naruto had been up to "That was a C-rank mission I sent you on, how did you run across an A- to borderline S-rank missing-nin?" Hiruzen asked/demanded, ignoring the looks of shock and utter disbelief on the others faces.

" *Sigh*, I guess I'll give the mission report first" Kakashi said as he started to go into the description of his most recent mission.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As Kakashi finished he looked at his enrapt, shocked, awed and contemplative crowd, in order spoken, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and the Hokage. They had just sat through Kakashi's long winded explanation on the teams improvement.

Naruto's improvement had shocked everyone. He had dropped the goofy idiot persona and opted for a serious but still happy go lucky one, a surprise in itself really. He had also taken advantage of the shadow clones learning capabilities to an unprecedented extent, thanks to his lineage and chakra-booster/Bijuu no doubt. That would be a major boon on it's own to create hundreds of physical copies of yourself in battle, but to be able to learn at a rate multiplied by the hundreds was amazing, just as good as or better than the Sharingan. With it he had been reading hundreds of books on a wide variety of subjects, Kakashi had said things like: medicine, anatomy, psychology, physiology, math, literature, battlefield tactics, jutsu scrolls, chakra control and manipulation, history, major historical battles,and just general books. All of these used to help him grow mentally, physically and spiritually (that means chakra).

Furthermore he had used his clones to practise his taijutsu and kenjutsu forms, movements, ways of use and variations on the original Kata. He'd also done this with clones training in chakra control and ones that would practice and master any jutsu he had learnt. He had also grown with his team and would no longer try to antagonise Sasuke and Sakura, but instead offered help and suggestions. He had even given Sakura the ingenious idea to start medical-ninjutsu with her near perfect chakra control, and had even given Sasuke his family Fire jutsu scroll to help him develop as his clans jutsu had been taken away from him, a very kind, considerate and helpful thing to do, not to mention prudent.

They had also found out about his high lightning affinity, something that left jaws dropped all around – apart from Hiruzen's – as something of this kind had not been heard since the Nidaime's water expertise. All in all they could see that Naruto was indeed a splendid ninja and a true prodigy when paired with shadow clones, even if they believed only half of what they'd heard.

Sasuke on the other hand had progressed much slower than Naruto had, but had gained his Sharingan to compensate. Sasuke had developed a lot with his team, no longer did he ignore them, rebuke everything they said, downplay everything they did and act better than them all of the time. Instead he worked with Naruto, smiled occasionally – biggest shock of the day, Sasuke's frown was legendary among Konoha jounin and a major joke point – talked with Sakura and even attempted to teach them both a fire jutsu, although to no avail.

Also he had created an A-rank collaboration technique along with Naruto, a fire jutsu that had consisted of a B-rank lightning jutsu, B-rank air jutsu and a borderline C-B-rank fire jutsu, a great achievement indeed as the skill needed for any collaboration was that of chunin at least. As well as the fact Sasuke had started his fire manipulation thanks to Naruto's fire scrolls, and had learnt two or three from them as well. He had also furthered his taijutsu and even started some basic kenjutsu with Naruto's and Kakashi's guidance and seemed to have a natural gift for it, even without the Sharingan.

And lastly there was his Sharingan. Kakashi had said that as soon as he had gained it he had instantly doubled in skill and capabilities, he had said said had the best eyes he's seen in any Uchiha he'd ever met with only two tomoe, Itachi included. And with Naruto's constant sparring had brought it out to a wonderful degree, Kakashi had no doubt that within the year Sasuke's Sharingan skill would be on par with his, which had even been praised by the Uchiha themselves.

And last of all was Sakura. Whilst not improving anywhere near as much as the other two she had still vastly improved and showed great potential. She had recently managed to realise that by ignoring the aspects of being a ninja she only put herself at harm, and that Sasuke didn't like week people so done herself a favour in becoming strong. Or useful at least. She had also stopped beating on Naruto for everything he did to or for her, you know the small annoying things he did like say …... Love her. She had even started to become very friendly with him after he had given her some basics on medical-ninjutsu and helped her along with it, knowledge wise as his chakra control was mediocre at best.

After being nudged towards it she had shown a very natural gift for using medical ninjutsu, she even managed to repair several arteries and induce a state where the blood rate was slowed to slow the blood loss of a young girl. Had been able to use **Shosen no jutsu** with great expertise and had a very extensive knowledge of herbs, anatomy, medicine and non-chakra based healing methods, from what Kakashi had quizzed her on. And lastly seeing as she had now decided to apply herself had started learning better use of taijutsu with Kakashi and, whilst not as good as Sasuke and Naruto, had come a long way in two weeks.

And pairing all of this information along with Naruto's and Sasuke's victory of the 'Demon Brothers', two chunin missing-nin, and assist in the kill of Zabuza Momoichi 'The Demon of The Bloody Mist', an A-S-Rank missing-nin, and Sakura's amazing healing capabilities under pressure, everyone had to agree, the Sannin may soon have a rival for that name.

"Naruto's high chakra reserves will make him a ninjutsu powerhouse just like Jiraiya, only more intelligent and refined I think. Sasuke will be like Orochimaru in his natural ability to learn and understand anything at a great speed, only his learning and battle prowess will be better than Orochimaru's due to his Sharingan. And Sakura will be just like Tsunade, a prodigious Medical-nin but without the super strength" Kakashi summarised.

For several minutes everyone sat/stood in a contemplative silence. If everything Kakashi had said was true they well and truly had another Sannin on their way, one possibly better than the last. This would mean great things for Konoha as the Sannin acted as a major buffer from anyone wanting to start a war with them as 4 Kage level shinobi in one village was generally unheard of, most only had one or two. But even with one missing Konoha still had Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tsunade Senju, Jiraiya the Toad sage and Kakashi Hatake, all Kage level shinobi. Adding another three to that would make Konoha a force that would amount to the impossible to beat. It would also be good for Konoha to pass the title of Sannin on to another, younger group as the old ones were losing their fame/infamy that drew customers to them instead of other villages, the neo Sannin would cut that problem out when they came to the spotlight.

"This is very good, very good indeed" Hiruzen said breaking the silence.

"Good, it's amazing. To think another youthful Sannin" Gai commented, which was met with a chorus of nodding heads.

"It's really going to be something to see in the chunin exams, that's for damn sure" Asuma said, but sighed and pulled out a cigarette. "Well, I've been her too long, team 10 is probably thinking I've been attacked on the way to training" he said with a chuckle. "I'll see- " Asuma was interrupted as the doors to the Hokage's office were kicked down, quickly drawing his trench knives he turned to the door in a defensive stance.

"JIJI! What the hell!" Naruto shouted as he walked in, ignoring the jounin all looking at him in shock.

Kakashi looked at his student with a lot of ire, after all the blame would partially come back to him for being his sensei, "Naruto, what are you doing kicking down the door of your village leader? Or does that seem like a stupid thing to think about" Kakashi asked slowly.

"Sorry sensei, but the Hokage just ordered my landlord to evict me from my home. Oh and the stuff I couldn't carry got burnt, thanks jiji. Thanks a lot" Naruto said, voice dripping with sarcasm and anger and what seemed hate, much to everyone's surprise, it was a well known fact that they were like grandfather and grandson. So for Naruto to be annoyed with him to this extent it meant that the Hokage had done what Naruto said.

"Father, is this true?" Asuma asked with a frown.

"Yes and no" the Hokage said with a frown, "I told his landowner that he wouldn't need to stay there anymore as I had finished with buying him a property of his own, and I certainly didn't order his eviction or for his things to be burnt I assure you" he said with an icy tone.

Naruto visibly calmed down at this and then smiled, "That's Ok jiji, as long as you didn't order that and especially if you brought my new home" He said cheerfully, which made everyone sweatdrop.

'seriously, angry one second and happy the next' Kakashi thought with a deadpanned expression. "Wait, you bought Naruto a property" Kakashi asked in surprise.

"Once again, yes, no and no. I bought a clan complex, and I am giving it to Naruto for free as it was given to me for free. I truly couldn't thing of a better place to rebuild the Uzumaki clan than there" Hiruzen said with a smile.

Asuma, Gai and Kurenai were not very surprised about the clan status being given to the Uzumaki, mainly because the Hokage had already announced it to the public and for the fact that most ninja knew that the Uzumaki were once one of the most powerful clans alive. But they were surprised about the clan complex, as they were generally worth very large sums of money.

"Yes, finally a knew home. As long as the mattress isn't as uncomfortable as my old lumpy piece of crap I used to call a bed" Naruto said with a large grin. "Also who did it used to belong to, because I only know of two clans that used to own a complex but no longer do, the Senju and the Namikaze. And I seriously can't see you giving me one of theirs, although the first would make sense as I'm related to them and you're their student so you'd most likely inherit it after Tsunade Senju".

Chuckling the Kage thought about the logic in Naruto's words, all though small showed how much he'd grown, from being a child who would just smile gleefully into someone who would ask logistical questions to find out what they wanted. "It's the Namikaze complex, the clan of our late Kage, Minato Namikaze." Hiruzen said shocking everyone present.

"What?! Yes!"

"You can't be serious"

"Father!?"

"What a youthful Home"

"..."

Those were the five reactions that accompanied the Hokage's words who was now smiling at the way everyone reacted, his little pass times could be so fun. "Quite or you'll make an old man go death" Hiruzen said with a deep chuckle, "But anyway, what do you expect me to do. Leave it to rot and crumble, that would be a disgrace to our previous Hokage, he dreamed of one day seeing that place full of life not derelict. Although it wont be his clan and he wont see it this is what he'd want, so do you want it?" he asked with a serious tone, but knew the answer anyway.

"Y-Y-Yes! Oh Kami yes!" Naruto shouted snapping out of the momentary stopper he was in.

"Good, if you will follow me then, to your new home" Hiruzen said as he stood, looking to the four jounin with a scowl, the temperature of the room seemed to rapidly drop. "I accept your genin for the chunin exam, but remember their lives are on the line in this, so their lives are on your shoulders.".

All four jounin nodded their heads in understanding. They could not be punished if their genin died, but if they did the Hokage would definitely find some 'unofficial' way to punish them and they'd lose their license to to teach. Not just that, their students lives depended on them and them alone. A massive burden to bare, but all thought their students were ready for it and would not deny them their chance.

"we understand Hokage-sama, but they are ready" Kurenai said, met with nods of approval from the others.

"Yes, we all understand and agree with risks, but that is part of being a shinobi" Asuma said, before walking to the door "Well, see you later father" and left, shortly followed by the other jounin.

"Well Naruto, shall we" Hiruzen asked as he walked to the door.

"Yep, I can't wait to get to test out the new beds, I really need some sleep" Naruto said with a yawn.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto sat down on the large sofa in the front-room to his main house. That's right, main, he had more than one. Never before did Naruto think of actually getting a house, but a compound of around 30 different sized mansions built for a thriving clan, or one that would be, was what he now owned. For someone who had never been able to buy more than what he needed due to outrageous prices for things that should be easy to get, were then hard to get, it was unbelievable to be this rich.

When he had shown up at the compound he and the Hokage walked through the large brown double door gate, made of oak wood. Stepping into the compound Naruto had found a straight street lined walls and gateways into mansions. All of which had stone, grass and pond gardens out front, all displaying different moods, calm, lush and happy, relaxed and serene, but all beautifully worked. Once past the garden he came to a large mansion made of large white stone, giving it a glowing appearance, which was three floors high and ended in a dark brown tiled roof. This was the general layout for all of the mansions that he came to.

After this he had decided to seek out the training area, a large arena filled with different environments. Things like forested areas, water areas, hard earth areas, empty open areas and a sort of sandy dune. Naruto expected these were to help with environmental fighting, tactics, tricks and just getting used to it in a whole. He also thought one area was for Nature Transformation, as there was few huge boulders in a straight line, followed by a small waterfall, logs of wood and a flowing river. It was obvious that the large boulders were to be cut by lightning or crushed with earth chakra, the waterfall was to be spit by wind, the logs burnt by fire and the river to be stopped by water chakra. Of course it had helped that Naruto had read all of that in a book, but it was still interesting.

Next he had walked the streets to look for things other than houses and had found a huge warehouse. Inside there had been a furnace, bellows, tongs, callipers, coal, metal ore and pure metal, hammers, worktables, grinders, string, thread, needles, leather, dye, various fabric materials and lots of other things. All of these were exactly what he needed to make weapons, armour, padded clothing, leather cases and grips for weapons, he could literally never have to buy kunai or shuriken again seeing as how there was already half a warehouse full of supplies. He decided to send some shadow clones of to the library to get all the books they could on working metal and leather and on making ninja equipment. His clones would be doing a mountain load of work from now on.

Shortly after leaving he had decided to go to what he had left for last, the clan heads mansion. It was exactly like the others, except there were many white marble pillars leading to the entrance with a small pavilion like annex roof attached to the tops of them that connected to the front of the house, but was still open at the sides.

Walking inside he had found the a wide hallway with wooden floorboards and a beige wall colour, which he found out the whole house was painted with. On the first floor he had found a large frontroom filled with comfortable fabric sofas, a large T.V, many, many movies and some furniture. Next he had found the kitchen, which after a quick check he had found had no food/ramen, which had a large wooden dining table and chairs, marble worktops, a dish washer, many, many cupboards, a fridge bigger than his bedroom in the old apartment – It was a walk in fridge, with a door at the end which lead to a walk in freezer – and knives sharper than his kunai. After this he had found a room with loads of Jacuzzis and an indoor hot spring. And lastly he had found a room that was covered in alcohol, every wall had a glass case packed full of a variety of sake, hundreds of bottles of the stuff. Who would have guessed the fourth was a …..connoisseur of alcoholic beverages.

After this he had ventured upstairs. Upon which he had found that this floor was just full of bedrooms, tons of them. There was like eight in total, and all of them could piss all over his old apartment. The beds were made of marshmallows, that's the only way could explain it. The moment he hit the bed he sunk into it, no lumpy pieces of crap, nothing. Just pure bliss and comfort as he laid on the silk sheets. The rooms had all been outfitted the same things, double bed, silk sheets, lots of furniture of roughly the same design. Much to his surprise there was no master bedroom, they were all the same.

That was until he checked the third floor. There was four rooms on the final floor, a vault, library, bedroom and office. The Library, as expected, was filled from wall to wall with books, most of which Naruto had yet to read. They were also helpfully categorised, so Naruto left his clones to do his bidding whilst he explored. The vault was a walk in room with a metal door as opposed to the wooden ones he had seen so far. On the inside the Hokage had told him that this room was for storing all of his most valuable possession, jutsu scrolls, heirlooms, items and other things. So Naruto had taken out his family scrolls and organised them on the shelves and went to leave the vault, where the Hokage had asked Naruto for a drop of blood and then added it to some seal on the vault door. He had said it meant only someone of his blood would be able to open that door now, so no-one could steal from it. After this Naruto had checked the office and found more books, mainly on law, politics and civilian matters – as to be expected of the Hokage – and a large desk. Finding Nothing of interest he decided to check the bedroom over. And proceeded to fall asleep as soon as he had laid down on the bed.

He had woken up the next morning looking round to find his heavily furnitured room, large flat screen TV on the wall, the king size bed he was on and ….. no Hokage. He had then realised that he had fallen asleep whilst the Hokage was taking him around the house. He was going to have to apologise for that. But at that moment sat on his sofa wondering what to do.

Then he thought of a certain large cleaver sword... which lead to a weapon store ….. which lead to a certain weapons fanatic. Ye, he was going to be having some fun. Smiling he quickly ran to the vault and pulled out a scroll before setting out.

As he walked the streets of Konoha though, something strange happened. People pointed at him and stared at him, which was completely normal, but instead of everyone glaring, some people actually smiled or waved to him. That made him stop and gawk for a while, but eventually smile and wave back. At first he couldn't believe that it had happened, no one ever waved or smiled at him that he didn't know, so he chalked it up to people mistaking him for someone else. But, it kept happening, so he decided he'd ask jiji later.

After a short walk he saw his target in sight.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sakura walked into the hospital, nervous about what she was here to do. Today she would be applying for medical training. She couldn't bring herself to think what would happen if she was rejected, now that she had a purpose on team 7 things were looking up for her. Kakashi trained her properly now that she applied herself, Naruto was talking to her and helping her out and Sasuke had even started being nicer to her. She couldn't go back to the way things were before that, she had to stay useful.

Walking up to the front counter she looked at the administrator, "Um, hello" she said nervously.

The woman at the desk looked up with a bored expression, "State your name, reason for visiting, and if needed, illness" She said in a monotone voice.

"Um, Sakura Haruno and I want to apply for medical ninjutsu training" Sakura said trying to stand a little straighter.

"Ok, fill out this form and then go with the man that comes along in a minute. He'll be your instructor" the woman said handing a form over.

Sakura took the form and quickly filled it out and then handed it back. When she did a young man with silver hair, purple clothes and glasses walked in.

"You asked for me, Mai?" the young man asked as he pushed his glasses up.

"Yes, this girl is going to be your new student, Kabuto. Now go on, I don't have time to be talking" she said as she went back to her work.

Sakura, seeing the chance to introduce herself, stood forward. "Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno" she said with a slight bow.

"Yes, well I'm Kabuto Yakushi, I'm going to be your medical sensei from now on" he said with a small smile.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Team 8 training ground – next day)

Team 8 had just finished training and were now sitting around the tree they used as a team meeting place.

"So, Hinata, you wanna go see Naruto. I hear he and his team just came back from an A-rank mission?!" Kiba said with a smirk.

"I-I, um, yes." Hinata stuttered at the mention of Naruto, which only made Kiba's smile broaden.

"Heh, I don't understand why don't just ask the guy out, he'd say yes you know" Kiba said with a smile, and laughed when Hinata turned a shade of red that would make a rose jealous.

"We do not know that Kiba, so do not raise Hinata's hopes over something like an illogical guess. But I do think you should still tell him Hinata, it will only hurt you the longer you keep it in" Shino said from under his hood.

"I-I don't know, what if he does say no to me, then what" Hinata asked still wearing a crimson blush.

"Easy, you move on, find someone better" Kiba said, but thought what he couldn't say, 'Like me'. Kiba had been hoping that since Hinata no longer saw Naruto on a daily bases that she would slowly start looking elsewhere, but she hadn't. In fact she had started pining of him even more than before hand, much to his ire. He was loath to admit it, but he envied Naruto for the way someone like Hinata loved him, and the fool didn't even realise. The last fact was starting to grate on Kiba's nerves, he swore if Naruto didn't realise soon he might hit the idiot for it.

"Well, whatever the reason I still think we should visit Naruto-san to see if he is alright, after all it was an A-rank." Shino said, trying not to get involved with both of their love issues. He was painstakingly aware of what was going on with Kiba everyday, he was just surprised that Hinata hadn't realised. He found it ironic really, she loved someone who didn't realise yet she was being loved and didn't realise.

"tsk, I guess you're right" Kiba said jumping up, quickly patting himself down. "what do you say Hinata".

"I think we should go, do you know were he is?" Hinata questioned as she stood up.

Kiba sniffed the air along with Akamaru before he smiled, "Ye, he's with Sakura at training ground seven" he sniffed the air again, "and it looks – or smells – like Sasuke is on his way" said before running in that direction.

"Shall we, Hinata-san" Shino asked before getting a nod from Hinata, shortly after both started jogging towards Naruto and Sakura.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Training ground 7)

"so Sakura, how is medical training?" Naruto asked as he laid on the grass, watching the clouds go by.

"Very good thank you, Naruto. How's your new home?" Sakura asked in response as she sat leaning against a tree.

That peaked Naruto' interest, 'How did she know about that?'. "huh, you heard about that?" he said rolling over onto his side to look at Sakura.

"Course I did, it's part of the biggest news in Konoha for the past 6 years. Uzumaki clan becomes an official Konoha clan and the soul heir gains the late Yondaime's home. Who hasn't heard it?" Sakura said with a laugh, but was surprised when a female voice answered.

"Everyone knows foreheadasuaras" Ino said as she walked into the clearing along with the rest of Team 10 and Team 8. "What I wanna know is all the gossip on your latest mission, and A-rank if I'm not mistaken" she asked with a glint in her eye, Naruto could tell she was still a gossip queen and all that.

"Oh, well if it isn't Ino-pig" Sakura said back as she pushed her head against Ino's, sparks flying. Everyone just walked around around them and went to sit by Naruto.

"Troublesome women" Shikamaru said as he laid down to watch the clouds.

"Tell me about it" Naruto said looking at the clouds, "hey does that one look like a bed to you?".

"Ye, it kinda does" Shikamaru drawled.

Everyone sat for a moment not sure what to say, they all realised Naruto seamed really different. Not that he was being lazy, they could tell he was just relaxing.

"Um, h-how are y-you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked breaking the small silence.

"I'm fine Hinata-chan, you?" Naruto asked but was surprised to hear a thud and looked up to see Hinata laying down asleep. "I think she's got the sleeping part down better than you have Shikamaru" he said before sitting up.

"so what brings you guys here" he asked as Ino and Sakura sat down.

"We have all come to see if you are alright after your A-rank mission, Naruto-san"

"Oh I'm alright, so Sakura, but I gotta warn you that something major did happen to Sasuke's eyes" Naruto said dramatically, trying to hide a smile back as everyone gasped or went wide eyed.

"No! What happened to Sasuke's eyes" Kiba said in shock, knowing that an Uchiha's eyes were legendary and for Sasuke to lose his would kill him.

Naruto was about to answer but Sasuke suddenly appeared in front of them all with his Sharingan active. Naruto smirked at all the wide eyes, pointing at Sasuke's eyes he said "That. What took you so long anyway, Sasuke?"

"Nothing, I just decided to leave a little late" Sasuke said before deactivating his Sharingan. "Don't forget we all came here to train, not have a reunion" he said looking at everyone present with a smirk "Although I expect if they all came at us two it would be a good warm up".

"What was that you bastard, you really think you could take us all with only Naruto as help? I'm sick of your superior attitude, You may have the Sharingan and be considered a prodigy, but you couldn't take us all with just the dobe! Heck he couldn't beat any of us without your help" Kiba shouted standing to his feet and got in Sasuke's face, but was as surprised as everyone else there when he started laughing in Kiba's face.

"Ha, you" he said pointing at Kiba's chest "beat Naruto...ha, don't make me laugh again, he'd wipe the floor with you and everyone else here" Sasuke said with a smirk as if the idea truly did amuse him.

Everyone else though just stared at Sasuke as if he was a stranger. "Um, who are you and what had you done with the arrogant prick known as Sasuke. You had us all fooled at first, that was until you complimented Naruto" Kiba said, not sure that this really was Sasuke.

Jumping up Naruto clapped his hands together, "First of all, as amusing as this is, I'm going to have to stop you there. This is Sasuke because he just showed you his Sharingan, and secondly if you think you can beat me, bring it." Naruto said calmly before pulling out a scroll. "If you think you're man enough that is, If you all move out of the way please" Naruto said calmly as he walked passed the shouting Kiba, everyone else seeing that they were going to fight decided to watch from a distance.

Naruto stood opposite a snarling Kiba and Akamaru with a smirk before unsealing Kubikiribocho, except this time it was no longer six foot long. Now it was the exact same shape with the holes in the same place except it was now only three foot long as opposed to six, and half a foot wide as opposed to two, now making it look like a more deadly machete as long as Naruto's arm and twice as wide.

"What, you can actually use that thing, what do you knew the dobe has learnt some new tricks. But, they aren't going to save you when I pound you into the ground" Kiba snarled aggressively and watched as Naruto stood there calmly still. "You've changed, dobe, the old you would have charged me down screaming like an idiot by now".

"People change Kiba, it's human nature to change and adapt to survive and the idiot persona would have just got me killed. I realised that when our magnanimous teacher saved my life at the cost of his own" Naruto said with a smirk as he watched Kiba try and figure out what magnanimous meant. "Idiot" he said one last time before running at Kiba.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Spectators

"Sakura, what happened to Kubikiribocho" Sasuke asked the pinkette.

"Wait, isn't Kubikiribocho one of the seven swords of the mist?" Ino asked the question everyone else wanted to ask. They all knew what it was due to history classes in school, it was the legendary blade known as the Executioners Blade.

"That sword in Naruto's hand is Kubikiribocho, only it has some how shrunk" Sasuke answered drearily, shocking everyone else there.

"That's K-Kubikiribocho! What the hell is Naruto doing with it, it should be with a swordsmen of the mist" Ino screeched upon hearing that, because not only was that blade legendary it was also feared.

"Me, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei beat the previous owner of it, Zabuza Momoichi, on our previous mission, that is why it was turned into an A-rank mission" Sasuke clarified shocking everyone further.

"Come now, that's getting ridiculous. First Naruto is serious, then you compliment him and lastly he has Kubikiribocho in his possession, that is all barely believable. But killing the man known as the demon of the bloody mist is impossible for genin" Ino said with a laugh.

"Actually they did Ino, they were providing support for Kakashi-sensei. They also both beat two chunin missing nin beforehand" Sakura said calmly and then pointed at Naruto, "Plus, look at how easily Naruto is winning against Kiba"

Everyone turned to see Naruto dancing around Kiba and Akamaru, who was now in his clone form of Kiba, who were both trying to hit Naruto by working together, but even two on one Naruto and his single physical clone were dancing around them and using the flat of their blade to injure and bruise their opponents. Everyone was surprised to see Naruto's simple grace as dodged around the swings, they were simple movements but all done to perfection giving of the air that it was all to easy for him, like Kiba couldn't even push him to go his fastest. Another thing was that Naruto had performed a physical clone jutsu, which was a chunin to jounin skill, which was on par with Akamaru. They were also surprised by his calm and serene expression, not boasting was done on his part, he didn't do anything brash and he was calculative.

"What happened to Naruto, he's so different" Choji asked, no longer eating his food as he watched Naruto pull apart Kiba as if he was nothing.

"When I asked him he just said he payed attention in Iruka-sensei's final lesson, I don't understand but he never elaborates." Sasuke said and then turned to Sakura. "So what the hell happened to the sword?"

"He told me he took it to some weapons nut case who showed him this ability the sword has to size-shift, kinda like shape-shifting except the item keeps its shape and just changes size." Sakura said before seeing all of the sceptical looks she was getting "he also said the girl had cried when she held it" Sakura said with a shrug.

Everyone nodded their heads at that, they'd all heard of the girl who specialised in weapons who had a huge love for them, people had even started calling her the weapons mistress of Konoha, although more called her the weapons nut case, but that didn't matter.

"Looks like it's all over" Sasuke said as he watched Naruto drag an unconscious Kiba and Akamaru over, smiling all the way.

"W-Well done, N-Naruto-kun" Hinata stammered as Naruto came to the group.

Naruto tried waving away the compliment but accidentally dropped Kiba on his face, "Woops. Heh, thanks Hinata-chan, it was nothing special" he said with a smile.

Hinata squealed a little and tried not to pass out again, but in the end it was inevitable and fell to the floor with a light thud. Everyone just looked at her and sighed in exasperation.

"well, it looks like she still loves me, I was hoping she didn't" Naruto said with a sad smile not seeing all of the shocked faces around him.

Ino broke out of her shock first , "You knew?" She shouted getting a nod in return from Naruto, "Then why didn't you...you know ask her out, say something! I don't know, but why didn't you do something!" she screeched exasperatedly.

"Because she's not my type, what else can I say" Naruto said seeing the confused looks all around he decided to clarify "She's cute, smart, strong, kind and loves me, sure. But she's timid and would never go against what I say never be forward, she'd always be shy and scarred of upsetting me. I don't want that, I want someone who can be themselves around me, not what they think I want them to be" Naruto said evenly. Because in all fairness he couldn't see himself having good relationship with someone that had put him on a pedestal, it just wouldn't work in his mind.

When they all heard this they knew what he had said was true, she would never totally be herself around, heck she couldn't even stay conscious after he called her 'Hinata-chan'. And if that's the opposite of what he wanted then who were they to judge.

"So how will you tell her, Naruto-san?" Shino asked with a non-visible frown hidden under his jacket collar, obviously worried for his team-mates reaction when she heard this.

" * sigh* , I don't know. When I feel it's right to tell her and when she can handle it, could you imagine what would happen if I told her at the wrong time?" Naruto asked getting a round of nods. "Anyway, Sakura can you heal those two, it's only some minor bruises"

"Sure" Sakura said before kneeling down and activating her Shosen no jutsu.

"Seriously! Any more surprises that team 7 wants to sprout out of their asses?" Ino shouted in disbelief, "No? Good, I'm leaving" Ino said before turning to leave, but stopped when she saw her sensei along with team 8's and 7's standing a few feet away from them.

"Asuma-sensei?!" Team 10 said along with the other teams chorusing their teachers names.

"heh, chunin exams haven't even started and Naruto's knocked out two of your students already, Kurenai" Asuma said with a raised eyebrow before lighting a cigarette.

"ye, ye. That doesn't matter anyway. Teams 7, 8 and 10, we are here to hand you applications for the chunin exams, if you wish to participate then fill these out and then hand them back to your sensei." Kurenai said handing out the form sheets to all of the genin and now conscious Hinata and Kiba.

As soon as the sheets were out Naruto and Sasuke instantly signed them and Sakura came shortly after. The other genin slowly fell in as well, much to Kakashi's amusement. "What, no hesitation what so ever? Good, confidence is a good quality. Oh, and Naruto, is that Kubikiribocho? If so what happened to it?" He said gaining the other sensei's attention.

"Kakashi, that isn't Kubikiribocho. Kubikiribocho is like six feet tall, if the person you killed was wielding that then he wasn't Zabuza. I think you're losing your touch old friend" Asuma said with a chuckle, that was until the sword in Naruto's hand grew back to it's original size and he buried the tip in the floor.

"It has a size shifting ability, although it costs a lot of chakra just to change it between the size it is now and the size I had it, so not useful as an ability in battle but good for tailoring itself to it's wielder" Naruto informed the sensei, 'take that you smug bastard' he thought aswell, ' don't know everything do you'.

Kurenai looked at the sword and laughed, "well that certainly made you look the fool" she said light heartedly.

"Yes it did" Kakashi said with a hidden smile, 'I'll have to get Naruto some ramen for making Asuma eat his words' he thought, ' Actually I didn't get paid enough on that mission to cover his appetite, maybe next time though'.

"So, when is the exam?" Naruto asked, "Do I have time to prepare, or knowing you I'd say we have until tomorrow to get ready" he said dryly, getting a nervous laugh from his sensei. "Thought so, just for that your starting my Fuinjutsu lessons after the chunin exams, whether I'm your student then or not" Naruto said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Shunsin? And you're going to teach him fuinjutsu at thirteen?" Kurenai asked calmly, but punched Kakashi in the head when he said yes. "What are you thinking, fuinjutsu is labelled as the most dangerous form of jutsu for a reason, and to teach to him when he's just thirteen. If anything happens to him I'll castrate you for being an idiot" She said before walking of and leaving a very worried Kakashi behind.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

(Later that night)

Naruto looked down at the assortment of items he had arranged after he had found out he'd be doing in the chunin exam. First of there would be some test that would focus on general aptitude as a spy. The second would be a test in foraging, detection, evasion, ambushing and teamwork, although none of these were focused on it was just to see how well you acted and adjusted under pressure in a hostile environment. And the last one generally focused on combat only, but wouldn't be until a month after the second test.

For the first test he had no idea on what to pack, so stored some third eye seals, third ear seals and some other spy equipment, I.e pick for any vault or locked door, and if that fails a hammer and chisel, and if that fails 34 explosive notes and if that fails... well let's just hope it didn't.

For the second he had sealed a lot of food so they didn't have to go get any in whatever hell hole they were placed, a tent for him Sakura and Sasuke, trap equipment, kunai and shuriken, medical kits, chakra pills and lastly some shadow clones. There was one shadow clone in a scroll, due to their size, and had to fit into a scroll the size of both of his firsts put together as opposed to the smaller normal ones. He had made two, one for Sasuke and one for Sakura, so that if they got split up Sakura or Sasuke would summon his clone, tell it were they were and Naruto would come to find them. Other than that he had extra clothes and his sword now strapped to his back.

All set for tomorrow Naruto put all of the stuff into a one strap backpack and then got ready for bed. He was not waiting long before he found sleep. Or sleep found him. But his last thoughts were all that mattered, 'I'll make you proud Iruka-sensei, just you wait'.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Meanwhile Sakura was also going though the same motions.

"Medical kits, check"

"Anti-poisons, check"

"Book on herbs, check"

Sakura listed off as she went through the bag of essential medical equipment she was bringing. No matter what she would be helpful on this test, she wouldn't fail the others because they wouldn't fail her. Even if all she could was supply long range support in battle and medical assistance when needed she would help the others no matter what. She would be useful.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Meanwhile Sasuke Uchiha was …... asleep.

* * *

Well, there's another chapter. I hope you enjoyed, if so leave a review and tell me so.  
This chapter was just to reintroduce the other rookies back into the fold, rather than during the chunin exam when you'd rather be reading dramatic storyline or epic fights and not some rookies reacquainting themselves with each other.

Also I used Kiba as a diversion for the whole Hinata thing. It works perfectly, she's timid and needs a strong willed person to lead her, and he's strong and has the need to assert his Alpha dominance over someone. Perfect.

Furthermore I do know Kubikiribocho's real ability, but hey I wanted Naruto to be using it. Man I love that sword.

And lastly :

Third eye seal: this is a small black ball with a cord running out of it and into a kunai. It acts as a third eye when a hand seal is used, like Gaara's sand eye.

Third ear seal is a paper tag that when placed collects any sounds and sends them back to the user.

Well until next time, and from now on my releases will take more time as I'm going back to college.


	9. Chunin Exams, Begin!

*** Important - IN other words Read this this god damn message, or else***

**Just released a new fic called the 'Uzumaki-Hatake Prodigy'. It's about Naruto being three years older than in Canon, is raised by Kakashi and is a prodigy and jounin by 12. He then takes a Genin team at 17 and guess who he gets, Team 7. there will be an (the thing that just stands for created character, OC?) of my creation, he will have a new Kekkai genkai, and I don't think it's been used before. Have a look and tell me what you like about it. **

**Zera of the Half Moon : That's good to hear, fangirls are awesome. That is until you reach the newly dubbed 'Sakura Level' which is just amazingly annoying. But that also brings up another point, is Sasuke gay in Cannon? I mean he has hordes of fangirls and just glares at them, it's like he's scared of what he might get. * fantasizes about the various scenarios * But no, he ditches them, joins a known pedophile who literally said "I want your Body, Sasuke-kun" and then proceeds to lick his lips. Who does that if they're straight? **

**Rikudou Naruto : I don't know how it would fit into my story line, but it's definitely some food for though and is hinting towards one of my new story ideas that I'm setting up, so be ready. **

SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan **: He will use it in its true form when he can, but right now it looks cooler than a normal Katana, is heavy, strong, chakra resistant, can channel chakra and is faster than it's old self.**

**roboguy45 : thanks for that character like. The wives front will most likely be single, but I might make him love two people to add some drama. Maybe even a break up, because who actually does that in the fandom, its all 'I love you - Really, I love you too, Lets walk of into the sunset and live happily ever after' no one ever gets dumped in Naruto, so I'd like to see that unfold, but with what pairings I'm not sure, if anyone has some preferences just shout.**

**Darkryus : Thanks for the review, and I'll try and be quicker next time.**

**Arctic Berzerker34 :Cheers for the opposite oppinion, I wouldn't count it as a flame as your point was valid. But I'd prefer him with someone who could challange him and allow for an intresting relationship. Not just a yes man (or woman). But I'm saying that from Naruto's current view, none of those things have happened for him yet. **

**kitsuneki: thank you for the praise, I'll try and keep it up.**

**darthmasterbane: I think your comment just opened the biggest mystery than since people tried to figure out who Jack the Ripper was. Seriously. 'Outrageous', as in good, bad, a bold choice? Please verify as I think more people now want to know what you mean than they want to read my fic ;)**

**kumo no sennin: Eh, had to do it. Not much else I can say really, but thanks for the review.**

**jh831: Thank you. And I probably will, it makes no sense why Orochimaru actually did that. He was a Sannin, he could have knocked Naruto out in two seconds if he wanted to, but no he has to do damage that's annoyingly irreparable.**

**semaxx3: I wasn't bashing. I was just trying to emphasize character traits so that I could show the development in the later chapters.**

**SBP21: Thank you. Even though it was mainly a negative review, I take as the best I've had. Reading this Iv'e tried to correct my errors to make for better reading. The Hokage was already the first two scenarios you mentioned, I just added the third to show he's had enough and is no longer taking crap, I may have done it too abruptly, but hey Im a new Fanfic writer, I'll learn from my mistakes.**

**Also about the feuling the Sasuke x Naruto rivalry, that was meant more light heartedly, more like a passing comment of an old man enjoying the actions of the youth. **

**The shadow clone thing I realised aswell, but can't stop it or it'd look weird. "Oh look, I have the ultimate training technique, but I'm not gonna use it", but I'm trying to circumvent that with some exercises that only the real one can do.**

**Also, I'm trying to show his progression instead of the way others do it. Oh look hes at Genin level, shit he suddenly a chunin. You get my point, especially with Sage mode and Hiriashin.**

**Sasuke and Sakura are developing into new people, but it's hard to change my writing for one person, let alone change it for three. So, I may be doing things wrong there, but I'm trying to pay close attention to them now so that Idon't get it wrong.**

**And lastly, the time skip thing, ye I didn't realise I was doing that. The third eye Kunai thing was a little to easy so I didn't use it this chapter as you'll see for obvious and understandable reasons.**

**Thanks for the great review.**

**cal : Thank you, its what I'm aiming for.**

**Guest : Yep, went back and fixed all of that. **

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke waited outside of the hall that was being used to start the off the Chunin exams. They had both arrived early due to the importance of the event and hoped to get a head start on everyone else …... that was two hours ago and Naruto still hadn't shown up, much to his team-mates ire. It was now reaching the time at which the first phase would start and they'd be disqualified if Naruto didn't show up soon, Sasuke and Sakura were starting to sweat a little at that possibility.

"Do you thinks he's scared, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in a worried tone causing Sasuke to snort.

"Please, that fool probably just forgot to set his alarm." Sasuke said with a smirk, but was still hoping that Naruto arrived soon otherwise he'd have to beat him to a bloody pulp for ruining his chance at promotion. 'Besides, he can't be scared once I've finally considered him my equal. If he is I'll have to kick some sense into him' Sasuke thought with a twisted smile at the possibility of beating Naruto to a pulp.

Sakura was about to reply but was stopped when a smiling Naruto came into view. Turning to him with a glare she asked "Where were you? We were supposed to meet up here 2 hours ago!".

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "About that, well I kinda woke up on the wrong side of the bed and decided it was bad luck, so decided to go back to sleep and wake up on the right side... and I did" he said with a small chuckle causing the others to sweat drop at his excuse.

"Your excuses get worse and worse, you're starting to pick up our sensei's annoying habits to an annoying extent" Sasuke said with a sigh before turning and walking into the hall.

"Heh, suppose we best follow him or we'll be late" Naruto said as he followed. 'I hope they don't find out I have a copy of sensei's book in my family library' He thought nervously, 'Sakura would flatten me'. He had even decided to give the book a quick read.. and then another... and then he'd moved on to the sequels. They were very good books for a young teenager who needed to... learn, ye that works, about the other sex. He was afraid that Sakura would not see it as a learning experience though and would beat him six different ways into next Sunday.

"And who's fault would that be, I wonder" Sakura shot back sarcastically.

With a fond smile Naruto replied "My bed, it's just to damn comfortable."

Walking up the stairs they came to find a large group of people convening around two middle aged teens, about three years older than them. These two people were currently holding all of the genin back from a door with a sign that read room 301, Naruto and Sakura could see the genjutsu over it and knew that it was really room 201.

Sighing, Naruto could tell that this was a part of the information gathering test, to be able to discern whether information was reliable or not, and this was being used to weed out the weaker and more worthless applicants. Because after all if you handed false information back to your village it could lead it's attack, destruction or many other undesirable situations. It was a perfect way to make a load of teams fail, all you had to do was ….

"Get rid of that pathetic excuse of a genjutsu, it's obvious this is only the second floor".

…... keep quite.

Which idiot was that?

Naruto scowled as he looked at a red headed girl in a white shirt and black trousers, standing next a blonde girl with short hair and huge …. assets that Naruto's gaze lingered on more than he'd care to mention. Damn that book. A boy with white hair and similarly dressed sucking on a... well, sucker. And lastly a tall blonde girl wearing mainly black with white wraps around her hair.

'What sort of idiot makes it easier for their enemies?' Naruto thought in disdain, 'seriously, but then again I have heard Kumo ninja were brash and arrogant' this was them believing they were the strongest ninja village. So he wasn't all that surprised by the Kumo ninja's actions.

**'So that's the Nibi Jinchuuriki' **a low growl came from within Naruto's head, making him stop for a second. Confused Naruto looked around but realised no one was there.

'Who the hell just said that, and who the hell is the Nibi Jinchuuriki.' Sighing, Naruto scratched the back of his head, 'I need more sleep if I'm hearing things' Naruto thought to himself with a scowl but went wide eyed when he heard the reply.

"**Fool. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine-tailed fox. And stop looking to see who's talking to you, I'm in your head" **the voice boomed once more, trailing of into mutterings about human fools, leaving Naruto stunned beyond belief.

'I can talk to You' Naruto screamed in his head, getting over the shock this was Kyuubi, the legendary fox that had nearly destroyed Konoha and was later sealed inside of him. 'What the hell, since when'.

A heavy sigh signified the Kyuubi's annoyance. **"Not so loud, whelp. And since always, I have just had nothing to talk to you about until today. And I sure as hell wasn't gonna talk to that old orange wearing fool you used to be" **Kyuubi replied lazily.

Naruto grunted and, despite himself, smiled, 'It seems my old self left much to be desired, even for demons like yourself...' Naruto thought, but stopped suddenly realising something. 'You said Nibi's Jinchuuriki is here, where?' Naruto said urgently. This would have a large effect on his team if they had to fight another jinchuuriki as Naruto had absolutely no control over his Bijuu but, he knew the other jinchuuriki would. He would have to warn his team about the threat, but didn't know how to broach the subject without bringing up his own little demon infestation.

Naruto could almost imagine a large grin coming across his Bijuu's face for a second, **" The blond Kumo genin, no not the one with the huge jugs that you seem to be paying attention to" **Kyuubi said with a chuckle as the blonde's cheeks got a little red, **" It's the one with the wraps around her hair, and it appears she's quite strong. She can at least use one of her two tails... damn you make me feel weak Kit" **Kyuubi muttered in a low growl.

Naruto was seriously interested now. From what he had read all Jinchuuriki have the ability to use their Bijuu's chakra in the form of a chakra cloak and a number of tails representing the amount of power they were using. He would have originally thought that meant this girl could use half of the Nibi's chakra, but he knew that there was a second and third state of chakra consumption. The first was a coloured transparent chakra cloak, the second was a non transparent and more dense chakra cloak and lastly was becoming the beast inside of them completely. It was said each tail increased the chakra by a large amount, the second stage doubled it and the last allowed the full amount of power that could destroy nations, a scary power for those who could master it.

'Thanks for the warning Kyuubi, ugh, I guess I'll speak to you later' he thought to Kyuubi who grunted in response.

**'Sure thing Kit, just a heads up she also knows that I'm lodging inside of you. Now don't wake me up until you start some fights' **Kyuubi said with a feral grin before going to sleep.

'Well that was extremely weird... ye I'm gonna have to ask Jiji or Kakashi-sensei about this. But for now lets get on with the exam' Naruto thought with a tired sigh and watched as the redhead now started arguing with the guys at the door.

"Idiots" Sasuke said appearing next to his team mates with a visible scowl.

Smirking, Naruto got an idea. "Ha, tell me about it. They might think they're the strongest village, but what good is strength if you're an idiot" Naruto said loudly so that the Kumo ninja heard him, smiling all the way when he got a glare from the boisterous red-head.

"What was that Whiskers?" the read head shouted as a tick mark appeared on her head, which doubled in size as Naruto chuckled, "And what's so damn funny".

"Oh, nothing really, just that you're a knuckleheaded idiot who just gave us all more enemies to deal with that we never needed. Unless you haven't realised, this was the first test and you just passed all the people here" Naruto said dryly whilst clapping at the end in mock applause, which seemed to infuriate the red-head further as she went to attack him. But, was stopped by her blond female friend.

"Stop, Karui. That's not cool" She said calmly to the now named red-head.

"But Samui, he was making fun of Kumo" Karui said pleadingly, no doubt to hit the blonde.

"No, he was right. Plus if you calmed down for a second you would see that he's trying to antagonise you, anyone who fights outside of designated areas and times are disqualified, or did you forget?" the blond said looking at Naruto with a calculative look. "And he managed to manipulate you knowing you were a hot head after only hearing you say one sentence, he's clever and sly, meaning more dangerous than he looks. So pay more attention".

That got everyone's attention, every other genin in the hall was now sizing Naruto and his team up. All the Konoha genin knew who their team was and already knew what they were made of, an Uchiha prodigy in ninjutsu, an Uzumaki prodigy who had lately been given clan status and a civilian girl who was said to be an up and coming Tsunade with perfect chakra control and amazing medical potential. They all knew to be weary of this team.

But the other teams from foreign lands did not know this, but slowly pieced together that the one with the fan on his shirt was an Uchiha and therefore dangerous, the blonde was a clan head if the news was true that a blonde boy with whisker marks had been given clan status and meant he was an Uzumaki, and therefore dangerous. But the girl was an oddity that did not look so strong, but more of a support for the other two making it a well balanced team to be very weary of.

"Well it's nice to be thought of as dangerous" Naruto said with a smirk as he traded looks between the blonde and the jinchuuriki who also looked back at him with interest in her eyes, it was evident she knew. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, you" he asked looking straight at the blonde jinchuuriki.

The blonde looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Yugito Nii, I look forward to fighting you in the finals" She said before walking away with her confused team.

Naruto smiled and turned to leave, "You coming, or are you still going to blame me for being late" he said as he walked up the stairs, followed by his team.

As they walked Sasuke looked at Naruto with a smirk, "You know I think you just made us a target for all the hopefuls looking to earn themselves a name" he said feigning anger.

Naruto raised and eyebrow and barked a laugh, "don't tell me you're not happy for the extra competition, because I know you are" he said with a smile. 'Damn prick would be happy if Orochimaru himself wanted a fight' Naruto thought with a smirk. But shivered slightly at the thought, 'well that was weird. I hope I didn't jinx our luck'.

Smiling back Sasuke raised his eyebrow, "I never said I was, did I?" he asked rhetorically. Sasuke was definitely looking forward to the competition other than Naruto, he wanted to see how far he had progressed. Fighting Naruto had made him far stronger and it had shown he had progressed, but how far he didn't know because every time they fought it ended in a draw. But fighting someone else would definitely show him how he had grown. How much closer he was to achieving his goal.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

After a short walk team 7 arrived in front of a set of double doors, but were stopped by Kakashi-sensei, who, for once, wasn't reading his book. Instead he was standing straight with a brilliant eye-smile.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Hello Team 7. I'm glad you made it here together, otherwise I would have been forced to remove you from the exam" he said looking at his Genin.

"And that would be due to round 2 being a team event, wouldn't it?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Looking to Naruto he smiled under his mask. "Yes and no. It's true that you need a team for the second round, but this is also a small test on how well you can work with your team. If you two came" he said pointing at Naruto and Sasuke, " And Sakura didn't, it would show you are willing to leave a team-mate behind, something a Chunin shouldn't consider unless absolutely necessary."

Sasuke grunted and put his hands into his pockets. "Well, we're here now, so can we go on" he asked.

"Yes, you can. But know this, whether you win or lose I'm proud of you either way" Kakashi said before walking of, leaving behind three smiling Genin.

"Well, its nice to know our sensei has faith in us and is proud of us either way. But I say we show him that faith isn't miss placed, I say we go out there and show everyone what a Konoha ninja is capable of" Naruto said firmly, his voice full of conviction and determination, gaining a grunt from Sasuke.

Walking through the double doors was a room packed full of genin, all ranging from their age to people in their late teens. All of the genin instantly turned to look at the new arrivals and most smirked upon no doubt seeing easy prey, Naruto had to hold back the bored sigh he was about let go of. Mainly because all he saw was idiots that didn't feel the need to worry about some 'rookie' genin that couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, how painful their injuries would be when he proved them wrong made Naruto smile, he'd get them back for underestimating him.

Looking to his left Naruto found the rest of his graduating year group and what appeared to be Tenten and her team-mates. Smiling, Naruto walked over to them with his team. "Yo, how is everyone" he asked everyone present and was met with a wave of greetings.

"Naruto-kun" Tenten said with a smile as she saw her little blonde customer. It also made her smile widen when she saw Kubikiribocho on his back. " there's my favourite little blond".

"Aw, come on. I'm not that small," he said pouting. "and 'Naruto-kun'?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

Tenten put her finger to her lip and looked as though she was thinking, "Well you did let me practice with a sword that I've dreamt about since the age of three and you're a good customer and a friendly guy who actually stopped by a couple of times just to talk, not to shop. So ye, I think you deserve a kun my cute little whiskered friend" she said with a laugh at Naruto's pout at being called cute in-front of a room full of people out to kill him. "It was either you I call kun or Neji and Lee. I don't think I could call Neji a kun because he'd just tell me some prophetic crap about fate and Lee would just dance up and down for hours on end cheering" She said with a sweatdrop as she looked at her pouting and stoic team-mates.

"So un-youthful, Tenten" Lee, wearing the same eyesore as Mighto Gai, said with tears in his eyes.

'Damn the man who invented those jump-suits, I wouldn't be surprised if his sensei makes them himself' Naruto thought with a grimace at the awful attire.

"I don't see how fate is, as you so put it, 'crap', we are all governed by fate. Every action we do and every choice we make is preordained by fate, so I would not mock me" Neji said with a scowl.

Naruto just laughed as he got a look from Tenten that said 'told you so' and had to agree after meeting her team for a short time from when he had first shown Tenten Kubikiribocho. As he stopped laughing he looked up to Lee and patted him on the shoulder and looked at him with a serious face "You'll get a Kun too if you ask her for one 30 times every minute, and if that doesn't work you'll ask 50 times every minute, and if that doesn't work you'll ask 100 times a minute" he said which seemed to suddenly seemed to lee as he suddenly went into a nice guy pose and added his glistening smile.

"And if that doesn't work I'll-" Lee started but never managed to finish his sentence as Tenten knocked him out with a quick neck chop, and he hit the floor with a thud.

"Why the hell did you do that, he'll be asking for months now" Tenten said with a large tick mark on her forehead.

"Heh, it was worth it for me" Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well it wasn't for me, just to make up for it you're going to let me borrow Kubikiribocho for a few days after this is done" Tenten said still vexed but wanting that sword. But as soon as he heard this he started to protest as he and Tenten started to brake into an argument that made all the other teams sweatdrop.

"I guess those troublesome idiots know each other very well" Shikamaru said as he watched the two argue.

"Ye, I think she's that girl he talked about who he said had shown him how to change his sword's size. It looks like they get along well though" Ino said as she watched them argue in amusement, smelling potential gossip.

"Hn, like it matters. I just hope that he doesn't mind fighting her when the time comes" Sasuke said haughtily, but secretly enjoyed watching Naruto use his natural ability to annoy people at will.

Ino smiled as she suddenly clung to Sasuke's arm "Oh Sasuke-kun," she cried in a sing song voice. "How nice to see you again, it must be horrible to have to put up with billboard brow all day long" she said as she clung to him and stuck her tongue out at Sakura.

"Whatever Ino pig, like he'd ever enjoy being around you anyway" Sakura shot back calmly, but was glaring daggers at her as lightning seemed to fly between the two causing everyone else to role their eyes.

"I hope you brought you're A-game, Naruto. I won't lose to you a second time, ya hear" Kiba said as he stood forward, Akamaru barking at his sides. Obviously he was trying to assert his male dominance, and Naruto knew exactly how to handle that.

Naruto just ignored Kiba and bent down to stroke Akamaru, "Who's a good doggie" Naruto said as he scratched behind his ear, making Akamaru purr in joy.

Kiba's face contorted in rage as he heard all the snickers around him, "When this is over I'll kick your ass, come on Akamaru, ya little traitor" Kiba said with a growl as he walked back to his team.

Laughing, Tenten walked up to Naruto. "Are you trying to annoy everyone or something?" She asked as she held her side from laughter, like most people. But before Naruto could reply everyone turned around as they heard someone call out to them.

"Hey, you might want to quiet down. That is unless you're trying to make an enemy of everyone in this room" as they all turned they saw the speaker was a tall silver haired teen, a few years their senior, in a purple shinobi get up with a leaf headband and glasses. Looking at them with a disarming smile he said, "You're the rookie Nine I've heard so much about, right? And you three are the team Konoha's been hearing a lot about, what with you taking out an A-S-rank shinobi" always keeping up his smile. "And hello there Sakura, how are you fairing with those books I gave you?" he asked, confusing everyone there.

"Fine, thank you, Kabuto-sensei" Sakura said with a returned smile, "I see you're taking the Genin Exam aswell, Hopefully you'll make it this time, you're definitely capable".

"Thank you for the kind words Sakura, I hope you do well aswell. Oh, would you like some info on the exam" Kabuto said with a bright smile as he looked over the group, "It's the least I can do to look after my student and her friends".

Stepping forward, Naruto looked straight at the new arrival. "And who are you?" he asked evenly. 'Shinobi rule *27, never trust information given to you from someone you don't know or trust'.

"Me? Oh, I'm Sakura's medical sensei" Kabuto said, never letting his smile drop. Naruto accepted that, and as a leaf nin and friend of his team-mates he could rely on some information.

"Oh, that's cool then. So what's this about information, have you done this before?" Naruto asked as he was intrigued to know everything he could about the test. Plus this Kabuto guy looked like a decent person, and Sakura seemed to like him.

"Yes, this is my seventh time" He said, shocking everyone there.

'Is it really that hard?' were the thoughts of all the genin.

"This happens twice every year, and this is my fourth year. It's very difficult indeed" he said calmly, but then shrugged his shoulders with a smile, which seemed to lift the heavy atmosphere. "For those who don't know what they're doing at least, but that's were I'll help you with my Recognition cards" He said, his face lighting up with a bright smile again.

"Recognition cards?" Sakura asked, just as confused as the others.

"Recognition cards. Made from a type of tree that is grown with chakra, much like nature affinity paper. The owner can store information onto their cards by using chakra and this information can only be viewed when that person uses his chakra once again to reveal the info." Naruto informed them all and just shrugged his shoulders when everyone looked at him strangely. "What, I read it in a book".

Ino laughed at that, "I'm never gonna get used to you being this clever" Ino said with a smile, but Naruto just snorted.

"Please, you just can't handle the awesomeness that is me" Naruto said which caused everyone to laugh.

"And an ego to match" Kabuto said with a friendly smile, making everyone laugh again. "Moving on then. Ask anything you want about anyone here, terrain or anything else" Kabuto said, pulling out the cards. Everyone quickly gathered round, interested in the cards. "So, who should I check up on".

Naruto smiled as he knew exactly who he was going to need to be informed about. "Yugito Nii, genin of Kumo and her team." Naruto said, confusing everyone other than his team.

Kabuto seemed to pout at that though, "Damn, you know there names, makes it less fun" He said as he shuffled through his cards, before pulling one out. "Lets see, I'll start with her team-mates. First of all we have Omoi, a white haired, dark skinned male. He's had one year at being a genin like the rest of his team, is said to be highly capable with lightning Jutsu, skilled with a sword and is good with tactics. Apparently the thinker of the team. Next we have Karui, A red head and dark skinned female. She is a very powerful and aggressive swordsman, has good chakra reserves and is very durable. She is supposed to hold the enemies attention for her team whilst they do some damage in short or long-range combat. Next we have Samui, fair skinned female with short blonde hair. Kumo's prodigy from what I hear. She has high capabilities with her Tanto, hand to hand combat, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and is a natural calm and cool leader. Dangerous to say the least. And lastly we have Yugito Nii, Tall, fair skinned, long blonde hair and female. Another prodigy it seems. She has an insane chakra reserve, excellent chakra control to boot, near perfect hand to hand, is a Ninjutsu powerhouse and is extremely agile and fast. This team is said to be favourites to win. They have been on 127 D-rank missions, 13 C-rank and 2 B-rank." As he finished he looked up to see everyone's contemplative look and smiled. 'This is who Orochimaru-sama wants you to fight, Sasuke-kun, if you are worthy he will take you and aid you in your quest for power.' he thought with an evil smirk. All Sasuke had to do was make it to the finals to fight them and Orochimaru could make his choice on whether or not to take Sasuke.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Naruto looked to Sasuke. "Oi, bastard. I think we should avoid them in the second stage and fight them in the finals." Naruto said calmly as he watched Sasuke's confused face. "That way everyone can watch when we destroy the favourite team and with one less person" Naruto said with a smirk as he watched Sasuke's confused face suddenly smile.

"I think you're right about that, loser" He said, before looking to his right to see a large man in a trench coat suddenly appear in the middle of the room.

"Alright you maggots, take a seat. It's time to get the Exams underway" He shouted over the hall, effectively silencing everyone there. Everyone quickly hushed and walked to a their seats.

"You better pass you bastard" Naruto whispered as he walked off.

"Same goes for you, loser" was Sasuke's quick reply.

Smiling, Naruto walked to his seat and sat down. He would so pass this test with higher marks than Sasuke, and then he'd rub it in the smug bastards face. And then he'd be one step closer to being the same rank as Iruka-sensei and that much closer to fulfilling his promise to him. The thought of his sensei made his smile falter, but he quickly picked his mood back up, he resolved to always remember Iruka in happiness, as he would have liked it to be, rather than in tears.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Konoha Jounin lounge

"So, Kurenai, how do you think your Genin will do?" Kakashi asked as he read from the latest book in the Icha Icha series.

Turning to look at the lazy Jounin, Kurenai crossed her arms and smiled smugly. "Well, Hinata has the Byakugan to see everyone else's answers, so she'll pass. Kiba has Akamaru to help him, so he should pass. Hopefully" she said as an after thought, after all this was Kiba. "And then theirs Shino with his Kikaichu, just as effective as Hinata's Byakugan." She said confidently, mainly because this was Konoha's legendary reconnaissance trio. "So how do you think yours will do?".

"Hm, Sasuke will use his Sharingan to copy someone's muscle movements and get the answers that way." he said as he continued to flick through his book. "Sakura is a natural genius, mentally speaking, so she'll probably be able to do this on her own. And Naruto... well with his shadow clones he should just ace this test as he's even smarter than Sakura is, or at least I think so." surmising it with a small shrug. "What about yours, Asuma".

Turning to look at them, the chronic smoker shrugged his shoulders. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" he asked, making the others sweat drop.

"Uh, because you're their Sensei?" Kakashi said.

Asuma just shrugged his shoulders again. "Whatever, they'll do fine".

"Your lack of knowledge over your Genin is outstanding, I thought I would know less about my students, but I was clearly wrong." Kakashi sighed. "Ah-well, like I care about your Genin. Might as well chalk yours off" he said as he continued to read.

"Hey, I said I don't know how they'll do it, not that they can't." Asuma said angrily. "Just because you got a team to brag about doesn't mean mine's going to fail, Shikamaru has an IQ of over 200, Ino can talk to him using her telepathy, get the answers and then give them to Choji. There, how's that, you ass". He finished with a glare, which turned ever more sour after Kakashi's shrug.

"Like I said, I don't really care. I know my team's gonna pass and that's enough for me." he said as he stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to comfort Gai. I'm sure he's at home crying about how he's no longer going to be able to train his precious Genin once the exams are done, ugh, this is gonna be the worst night of my life I think."

Despite themselves, all three sensei smiled at Gai's usual antics. He always went on and on about his Genin, their abilities, habits, age, height, personal needs and hobbies, everything about them. Sometimes they swore they knew Gai's Genin better than their own, he was like a mother hen. The thought sent shivers down their backs of Gai actually having children, they hoped it would never come to that... and prayed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto had answered all nine questions on his test paper, but was surprised by their difficulty. He now understood were the information gathering was, you had to gather the answers off of the proctors hidden within the room, who were placed at strategic intervals so that each Genin had a chance at gathering the right information.

He had seen various techniques being used, such as flying eyes (something that left him confused for a little while), bugs, Sharingan, Byakugan, subtle glances at others papers and many more that he no doubt missed. Although he, and Sakura he guessed, had done it off of actual intelligence.

Over the course of the test, he had seen many of the teams being kicked of the test due to being caught and others that had just given up and left. Obviously incapable of filling the test requirements and becoming a Chunin.

Now though, he sat waiting for the last question, along with everyone else.

"Alright, time for the tenth question" the proctor, Ibiki Morino as he had introduced himself, called out across the hall, drawing everyone's attention.

" 'bout time" he heard Kiba mutter.

"Yes, well there is something you should know" his voice echoed through the hall. "Those who decide to take the last question must know, that if you fail this question you, along with your team, will fail and are never aloud to become Chunin."

"What!" were the multiple choruses of many shocked Genin.

Ibiki smirked as he looked across the room. "You heard exactly what I said. So will you take the last question, or wont you?!" he asked.

As he said that, a few Genin stood up shakily and quit, effectively ending their chance at becoming a Chunin along with their team-mates as they were evicted from the hall.

Naruto, though, wasn't bothered as he was confident he could handle whatever they threw at him. He was sure Sasuke was having the same thoughts, and Sakura wouldn't quit unless he or Sasuke did. So he knew they were all doing the next question, win or lose.

Around him though, he watched many other Genin waver, and sweat nervously at the risk of this question. Slowly, more Genin began to trickle out of the room. To his right, Naruto saw Hinata shaking and starting to raise her hand, obviously breaking under the pressure.

Despite his early comment about creating more opponents for themselves, Naruto caught her arm with his hand, much to her surprise as she looked at him with wide eyes.

"N-Naruto, w-what do you-" she tried to ask him, but was stopped as Naruto stopped her.

"Hinata, don't quit. Look at your team-mates and see how they stay, if not for yourself, then stay for them. Ok" he said calmly, trying to steady her nerves. He was successful as she lowered her hand and nodded with a shaky smile, he smiled back.

"No more, huh?" he asked as no one made to leave the room. He smirked again, "Well then, you all pass".

At first there was silence as they were all stunned by the announcement, but suddenly Kiba jumped up.

"What the hell?" he shouted. "What about the tenth question?".

"I guess you could call that the tenth question, deciding whether to stay or not" he said with a smile, and then proceeded to remove the bandana covering his head to reveal a very large scar.

"As Chunin you will be expected to lead teams, and with that leadership comes hard decisions that will decide whether your team survives or not." he said, making Kiba sit down and everyone go silent. "And some times those choices are even harder, were you'll be forced to leave behind team-mates, friends and even loved ones. That is what that final test was about, are you truly willing to make those tough decisions, if not then you aren't worthy of the rank of Chunin. That is what I believe. Now I officially declare the first stage of the Chunin Exams over, I wish you luck."

As he finished everyone sat in an eerie silence, shaken by the obvious link between his scar and a choice he made. All the Genin around the room contemplated what it now meant to them to be a team leader, someone who holds other's lives in their hands. A daunting task and a very hard one, one that could cost much and gain little.

Their days as the followers would seem like heaven in some situations, compared to the role of leader they would soon be taking. To follow without question and constantly have your fate in the hands of others, or to lead and hold the fates of others in your hands, which was worse?

The silence was broken though as the window suddenly smashed, due to a women flipping through it and landing in the centre of the room.

She stood around six-foot tall, wore extremely revealing clothes and a trench coat, she had black hair tied into a pony-tail, a shit eating grin. And her name was Anko Mitarashi, as the banner behind her proudly displayed.

"I'm your second exam proctor, the sexy Anko Mitarashi" She shouted as she placed her hands on her hips.

All of the Genin looked at her as if they had just seen something... strange, weird, shocking, freaky, bemusing and many other strange looks.

Stepping from behind the newly erected banner, Ibiki looked at his co-worker. "Read the atmosphere, Anko" he said plainly.

Frowning, Anko turned to her superior. "You let 31 teams pass, I think you're losing your touch, Ibiki." she said, her frown turning to a large grin.

"No, this year we just have some very good Genin".

Anko's smile deepened. "Either that or you just can't admit your finally losing it."

"Whatever, get on with your introduction." he said with a huff.

"Heh, thought you'd say that" she said with a smile, before turning her attention and shit eating grin towards the Genin, making some sweat nervously. "Right, listen up. You're to ask your sensei for directions to the Forest of Death, this is were your second exam will be held, and you are to be there at noon. I hope to get rid of more than half of the teams here, so be prepared."

"More than half?!" Sakura exclaimed with wide eyes, was this test really that much harder. And if the name was anything to go by then she should expect danger as well.

Almost as she had picked up on Sakura's panic, Anko turned to her with that sadistic smile. "Oh, yes. More than half, and of that group that fails more than half of them will be dead. Sounds like fun, doesn't it. Oh, and just so you know, there will be no proctors to save your life in there, so do be careful, bye" she said and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a group of shaken Genin.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto stretched with a yawn as he stepped out of the test room along with Sakura and Sasuke. Although the test wasn't as hard for Naruto as others, it was still boring and slow work to fill out the answers, especially the one on a Kunai's trajectory after bouncing of a wall at a 45 degrees angle. Oh the cramp in his hand from the long winded answers, which he had found was pointless after the ninth question, much to his ire.

Although the test was based on information gathering skills, Naruto decided to just answer the questions, seeing as he already knew them and didn't need to bother with the real test. He had also found the test was ridiculous and biased. People like him and Sakura could just answer the questions and didn't need to rely on ninja skills, unfair for those who did. Then their was also the fact that some ninja, I.e powerhouses like him and Sasuke, were trained to fight and not in the skills needed for this. If it were a real mission, the candidates would have been chosen according to their skills so that they succeeded. They wouldn't send a random assortment of people that contained people who couldn't spy as well as others, making the point of this test moot.

He found it unfair that people had just been kicked off of the test and lost their chance at promotion, due to stupid exam modulation and requirements that weren't necessary. He decided he'd have a word with the Hokage about it at a later date, but for now he'd like some ramen.

"Ugh, I'm going to get something to eat, you two coming?" Naruto yawned.

Grunting, Sasuke nodded his head. "Fine. That test lasted far to long and left me hungry. I could do with some food, even if it is ramen" Sasuke answered, and began to walk in the direction of Ichiraku's ramen. Sakura following shortly behind.

"Bastard likes it, he just thinks he's to cool to admit it" Naruto mumbled before shrugging his shoulders. "What do I care, ramen is waiting" he said with a smile before jogging to catch up.

After a short jog he was walking next to Sasuke and Sakura, one who was trying to spark a conversation, and the other who just grunted in acknowledgement every now and then. Sakura smiled at that as it was better than when he would flat out refuse to spend time with her or Naruto, now he was going to get something to eat with them and grunting in response! He no longer just ignored her and told her to go away. She would have smiled if it weren't still a poor relationship, but she'd take what she could.

"So, Sasuke." Naruto said, instantly getting the raven heads attention.

'How can he get Sasuke's attention so easily, he barely realises I'm there when I talk, but Naruto gets his attention straight away' Sakura thought with a jealous twinge, but scolded herself. 'It must really mean that Sasuke sees him as a friend, someone worthy of his attention. I'm going to have to train so much more to gain some worth in Sasuke's eyes...' Sakura sighed with a slightly depressed sag in her shoulders.

"Ye, what do you want" he asked.

Naruto linked his hands and put them behind his neck as he walked. "I was wondering, when do you and me become clan heads instead of just the heirs" he asked.

The had been bothering Naruto for a little while as he would like to become the official clan head, so that he could get all of the clans official documents, like the ones that the Hokage had kept when they went to the vault, and so that he could join the council if he choose to. The benefits as a clan head would be large, not only would he be able to get his hands on all the jutsu scrolls within Konoha that weren't clan techniques or forbidden, but people would start to look at Naruto with respect and not animosity. Furthermore he would be considered a clan elder as of the same moment, due to certain laws and obligations, which would generally give him diplomatic immunity within Konoha, so that people wouldn't just charge him of petty crimes he didn't do. He'd have a hand in his life choices, instead of being governed by the council, he'd have the right to put in mission requests with the Hokage (something only a clan elder or head had the privilege to, if you're a ninja that is, merchants and civilians already had that right) and he would probably be able to ask the Hokage who his parents were.

All these things stacked up and made Naruto want to become head of the Uzumaki all the quicker.

"Hm, I think it's when you turn 18, or achieve the rank of Chunin." Sasuke answered with a raised eyebrow. "Why?".

"Just want to get to that position, I think when I do, the Hokage will tell me who my parents are. That and I wouldn't mind the benefits, like being able to see any and all non clan or forbidden jutsu, joining the council and the ability to request missions. Those sorta things" Naruto answered whilst scratching the back of his, frowning slightly.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at that. "You don't know who you're parents are, but the Hokage does and is keeping it secret from you. That has only happened in the past when very, very important people die, it's usually done to protect their child from any enemies they may have made." Sasuke said, more pondering the thought himself than to inform Naruto.

'I wonder who your parents are, dobe' Sasuke thought to himself.

Sighing, Naruto nodded his head. "I know, that's why I want to become strong enough so that he can tell me." he said with a small frown, but then turned to a smile. "It's a good thing we'll be Chunin soon, eh? This wait is killing me, I just wanna know their names, you know what I mean?" Naruto sighed again. "Ah well. So, you gonna join the council?" he asked, generally wondering id Sasuke was interested.

But, to his surprise, Sasuke frowned and his mood seemed to drop, chilling the air around them. "The Uchiha are not entitled to a council seat" he said, a low growl like sound emanating from his throat, obviously annoyed at the fact.

"What?! Why don't you get a seat, Sasuke-kun? I thought the Uchiha were one of Konoha's royal four clans, you're owed one" Sakura screeched, making both boys wince at the sound, but Sasuke nodded his head.

"I know." Sasuke said, his frown deepening. "That's what I think. We never used to have one as we ran Konoha's police department, and it would have been considered favouritism of my clan if we got that responsibility and a council seat. But now that we are no longer able to do it, Konoha's ninja forces have taken over the job. That means I don't get to run the police department or a council seat, It's starting to make me think that Konoha has forsaken my clan".

"Why don't you talk to the Hokage about it" Naruto offered as Sasuke looked at him incredulously. "What?" he said shrugging his shoulders. "If you asked for an appointment with him as the heir to the Uchiha, then he'd have to make one as it's Konoha law. Then you just bring that up and I'm sure he'll understand, and if not... well, me and him are pretty close, I could sway his mind".

Sasuke was surprised for a moment, but then smirked. "I never thought to actually ask for an audience with the Hokage, that'll probably work, after all who could say no to the Uchiha" he said confidently.

Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered, "Arrogant bastard".

"Hn" Sasuke grunted at the remark and kept walking.

The group continued to walk towards the Ramen stand situated a few blocks away, mainly all thinking their own thoughts.

Sasuke thought about the he would soon be a Chunin, a rank befitting of his clan and skill, and would then be able to become the head of his clan and would be one step closer to reviving his clans glory and honour.

On top of that this would all prove he was truly worthy of baring the Uchiha legacy and will on his shoulders... and their vengeance on Itachi Uchiha. He would use his new power and strength to take Itachi down, and make him beg for forgiveness for the acts he committed against the clan.

Sakura's thoughts were more based on her desire to prove her worth to Sasuke, that she was no longer a complete weakling and had an actual use within their team. No matter what, she wouldn't let him or Naruto down. She would help them pass no matter what, and then she'd pass as well. Of course, it didn't hurt that she was letting her thoughts stray as to how her crush would 'thank' her for helping him pass... Oh, the possibilities. She just wished he had noticed her before he started acting friendly with Naruto, after all she tried hard for years just to be noticed by him and Naruto does it in a few weeks. It was annoying and upsetting, and made her jealous.

Naruto, though, was mainly stumped for training regimens. He had several lighting Jutsu and one wind Jutsu in his arsenal, he even had Shadow clone Jutsu a few variations of it. So his Jutsu list was fine, and to top it off, he had even completed that lightning manipulation tests so that his lightning based jutsu would be stronger, faster, cost less chakra and last longer. Therefore he was fine chakra and jutsu wise, heck, he could even levitate three leaves on each hand simultaneously, walk up trees and on water.

Then there was his Kenjutsu and Taijutsu. Both of which he had mastered intermediate level for, and was now working on using them together instead of as separate fighting styles. Kubikiribocho was even good for his style as it helped to fatigue his opponent by repeatedly bludgeoning their defence, thanks to it being heavier and thicker than normal Katana. No, he was fine in this department.

All that was left was his physical training and Fuinjutsu. His physical training was going well, but he'd hit a wall. No matter how many push ups, sit ups etc, he didn't gain muscle or stamina (mainly because his latter was abominably high). So, he needed to ask someone how best to further his physical assets, or ask whether it was just the fact that his body size couldn't take anymore muscle, as his muscles were insanely compact and felt like steel. That could wait though, for now he would start his Fuinjutsu, seeing as he had absolutely perfect handwriting, and Jiji's warning be damned. He was ready for this and would start.

They all continued walking for a while, Naruto pointedly ignoring all the whispers and glares sent his way, until they heard a little kid shouting.

Out of interest, they turned a corner to look for the screaming child to find Genin wearing and all black garbs, war paint and had a large, bandaged item on his back, holding up a kid, that Naruto recognised, by the neck.

Shortly behind him was a girl with tanned skin, blonde hair tied of in ponytails and a large fan on her back. She also looked roughly a year older than the first.

What they all noticed most of all, though, was the forehead protectors they wore were of Suna, not Konoha.

"Hey, let go of me" the kid screamed as he tried to kick free of the Suna Genin's hand, but to no avail.

The Genin just smiled. "Why should I do that, ya pathetic little runt?" he asked as he tightened his hold on the child's neck.

The next thing he knew, he found someone to his right grabbing his wrist and squeezing it with such force that he instantly let go of the child's neck. "Because I said so" Naruto growled as he looked the black clad ninja in the eye with a glare that could freeze magma.

"Why you little weakling, what do – ahhh!" the Genin screamed as Naruto quickly twisted his wrist and pulled it behind his back and started applying enough pressure to nearly brake it.

"Weakling, eh? Sure you wanna be insulting me, 'weakling'" Naruto whispered into his ear mockingly.

Looking to his right, he nodded to his partner and she quickly jumped forward and went to hit Naruto in the back with her giant fan, but was surprised when Sasuke caught it with one hand, the other resting lazily in his pocket.

"I suggest you don't do that" Sasuke said cooly, turning to Naruto he nodded his head. "Let him go".

Naruto complied and pushed his 'opponent' away from him, smiling as he watched him rub his sore wrist. "I suggest you don't attack the Hokage's grandson, wars have been started for less" Naruto stated, shocking the other Genin.

"Kankuro, you fool! I told you you'd get us into trouble, now look what mess you've got us into." the blonde shouted at her patner, who was now sweating nervously.

"Sis, I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know, I mean come on Temari he looks nothing like the Hokage" Kankuro stammered in fear.

Naruto snorted. "He isn't supposed to, he's his grandson, not his son. And one last piece of advice, cross dressing in your sisters clothes and make up is bordering on the homosexual" He said with a grin as he saw the Genin flare up in rage.

Despite herself, Temari chuckled at that statement. "he got you there Kankuro" she said with a laugh as her brother spluttered.

"It's WAR PAINT! WAR PAINT! Not bloody makeup" He screamed as his face went dark red in rage or embarrassment.

"Ye, whatever" he said with a barely contained smirk, but then frowned. "you can also tell your other team-mate to come out, its annoying to be spied on" Naruto said casually and watched as a red headed boy appeared in front of his team in a swirl of sand.

Both Genin were surprised to see there team-mate as a look of fear crossed their faces. "Gaara!" they said in unison.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you" Gaara commanded in monotone voice that sent shivers down everyone's back. Both Genin looked thoroughly shaken by the comment and went silent.

'He means it' Naruto thought with a frown, 'What sort of person threatens to kill their team-mates without a hint of regret. This kids a psychopath'.

"**And another Jinchuuriki it seems" **the Kyuubi's voice echoed within Naruto's head, surprising the blonde as he groaned in frustration.

'Another one, seriously?' he thought in exasperation. This day just got better and better.

"**Yep, this ones especially dangerous though. He's the Jinchuuriki of the One Tailed Beast, and very unstable it seems, kid can't even sleep without his Bijuu being set free" **Kyuubi commented, Naruto could almost feel the grin on Kyuubi's face.

'You're loving this aren't you, the chance for me to fight two of your kind's containers. And that unstable thing does not sound good, should I warn the old man?' Naruto thought, but got no reply.

'Hey ya damned fox, answer me' He shouted in his head, but heard the subtle sounds of snoring and sighed, "Damn furball" he complained in a whisper to himself.

The red head turned to Naruto and smiled, not the normal warm kind, but the kind that promised blood and pain. "I'll enjoy seeing you in the finals" he then turned to Sasuke "You aswell, mother will enjoy your blood" he said before disappearing in a swirl of sand.

'Hm, he's an unstable Jinchuuriki, dangerous just for that fact, but he also has no hesitation about killing and excellent at hiding his presence' Naruto thought as he tried to find the best way to figure out how dangerous he was.

"Are you two alright" Sakura asked as she jogged up to her two team-mates with a worried frown.

"Ye, I never got touched. Unless poor little Sasuke hurt his hand, then I'm sure he's fine" Naruto said with a mocking smirk as he looked at the frowning Uchiha.

He snorted, "Whatever, loser" Sasuke before looking in the direction of his home. "I'm going to go home for some last minute preparations, I'll have to pass on dinner. See ya" Sasuke said before walking off.

"Ye, I think I'm gonna go home aswell, sorry Sakura" Naruto apologised before heading off home.

Naruto needed to do some research on some certain Jinchuuriki, that and he wanted to reed some more of that Icha Icha Paradise. The thought of the book instantly put a smirk on his face, oh the wonder of the perverted person that wrote them. He'd have to thank him some day for the super pervert he is. He continued to walk home, meeting his clan gates after a matter of minutes, he smiled before entering.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Somewhere in the Land of Fire

Behind a woman's only bath house, a perverted old man smiled as he realised he'd just bagged another customer. Pumping his fist he cheered "Yes! Bagged another one".

Unfortunately for him, his loud cheer had alerted the female bathers to his presence, who rapidly screamed and ran for their clothes and the nearest weapon to assault him with.

Quickly running away, he cursed his rotten luck. 'They were such fine specimens as well', he thought with a perverted giggle.

* * *

**Well, thats another one. Sorry it took longer than expected, been dealing with some pain in the ass insomnia (sleep depravation, unable to sleep at alll, and not getting more energy once you've slept) but I'm trying to get over it. * sigh * why couldn't it be something simple, like a chest cough? fuck my life.**

**Anyway, in this chapter I have added Kumo's 4 (tell me what you think of that) to hopefully change up the Exams a bit, mainly at the later stages though.**

**After this i have introduced Kyuubi. My aim is to make him more talkative than in Cannon, I'm not sure if I mean nicer, but not always demanding blood at least, but he'll still only pop up at serious points, not just for menial conversations. He'll also still try to brake out of the cage whenever possible, and wont help chakra wise unless Naruto is somehow coughing up his heart or lung.**

**Anything else that you wanna know about, then just lave it in the review section and as always I'll reply to all the reviews.**

**Come again!**


	10. Spoke too soon

SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan **: Thanks, just thought that i needed to start making some things deviate from the original more.**

Rikudou Naruto **: Not yet, but he might do later on. **

**Hotaru Shoharu : Well, thats a good opinion and one I think as well, but I'm trying to fit some different things into Naruto's style, but he might be getting trench knives after a while though, they go well with the style I'll be introducing him with soon.**

**Kitsune95 : Thanks. ANd to answer your summons question, all i have to say is Neko!**

**luckyschoolgirl: Thanks. Yeah, i did, im gonna start fixing that problem.**

* * *

Spoke to Soon

"What is this place" was the murmured questions of many nervous Genin that had gathered as they looked upon the agreed meeting grounds.

It was mid day, roughly around noon, and the Genin had all gathered outside of The Forest of Death, or training ground 44.

Knowing that the next test would be hard, due to it being known as the life or death test, many students were expecting something hard and dangerous, but what they saw in-front of them was nerve wrecking in just appearance.

In-front of all of them was a large, rusted metal fence, heavily adorned with barbed wire, warning signs and every now and then, pulses of electricity. That was not what had all of them on edge though, what was, was the large forest behind it. Trees that were five or six times thicker than any normal trees sprouted from the ground, with large, thick branches all a dark and deathly brown. Crawling up most of the trees were various poisonous plants, bugs and animals. Claw marks from animals larger than some houses adorned the trunks, and even cut clean through. Every now and then was the sound of a loud screech, roar or rattle. Sometimes the loud cries of victory of one animal that could be heard from miles away, and others were the death cries of things just as large.

This all made the contestants think about what sort of perpetual death trap they were being thrown into. That was until their crazy looking proctor appeared in-front of them with a shit eating grin, making most want to run into the forest just to get away from her.

"Welcome to my home away from home, The Forest of Death!" she shouted loudly, making most feel she was clinically insane. But she just smiled wider as she saw the looks of apprehension and fear on most faces.

Everyone watched as behind the female proctor a large green snake ate a bird, solidifying their desire to not enter that forest.

Sakura shivered and held herself. "This place is creepy" she said, a small look of fear on her face.

"And you'll get to experience first hand why it's called the forest of Death" Anko said with a laugh as she placed her hands on her hips, no doubt enjoying their fear. Her grin suddenly turned into scowl as Naruto and Sasuke stepped forward.

Naruto walked forward with a small smile. "And this is supposed to scare us, why? We are Ninja who are trained to fight and live in these conditions, you can't scare me" Naruto said calmly, almost epitomising nonchalance.

"The dobe has a point, you try to scare us with things we fight daily, lets just get this over with, I'm already bored" Sasuke said, just as calm as Naruto, not even bothering to look at the proctor as he spoke, showing his lack of concern.

Naruto suddenly moved his head to the right as a Kunai came hurtling towards him, just barely missing his cheek as he evaded it. Following closely behind was the proctor as she appeared behind him in an impressive display of speed, only attained by years of training. She latched her arms around him and held his chin in her left hand as she turned him to face her, leaning into his back as she held a Kunai to his throat.

"Nice reflex's kid, but it's kids like you that die first and spill that red blood I love so much all over the ground" She said with a sickly smile, trying to intimidate him, but frowned as she felt something touch her leg exactly were an artery was that, if cut, would drain her of blood quicker than she could count.

Naruto just smiled back as he pushed the Kunai further into her leg, scratching her skin. "If you wanted to touch me up, Anko-san, you should have just asked. I'm sure me and you could arrange something" He replied, making Anko smile in delight.

"Oh, you're good for a Genin. I hope to see you in the finals, so I can see you bleeding out." She said as she licked his cheek that she had barely missed, but sensing someone behind her, turned with her Kunai ready.

"Here is your Kunai, proctor-san." A tall Kusagakure Ninja said as he handed over her Kunai with an extremely long tongue, disgusting most there.

Taking back her Kunai she let of a dangerous smile, "Thank you. But I suggest you never sneak up on me again if you wanna keep that tongue of yours" she suggested, before walking over to a counter and picking up an item.

'What's up with her, she's so strange' Sakura thought to herself as she watched the proctor. 'And what the hell was Naruto insinuating, I'll kill that little pervert' She thought mentally as she started to plan the beating she was about to give him. First was the lateness, then the poor excuses and now the perversion, he was becoming more and more like sensei. If it carried on she have to take some serious measures to stop it. Permanently.

'**Cha, you show the little pervert**' inner Sakura screamed as she raised her fist and started punching and imaginary Naruto.

Anko walked back to the front of the group and held up a stack paper forms. "Before we move on to the second phase, I need you to fill out these consent forms" she called out. "The reason for this, is that people will die from here on out. So you need to sign these so I wont get blamed for your deaths, that'd just be annoying, wouldn't it?" She asked with a laugh to herself, scaring people all the more as she casually mentioned their deaths.

"I will now explain the purpose of the second exam. To be concise, you will all be going through an extreme survival match." She called out, handing the forms to Naruto.

Naruto took a form for himself and then passed it on. 'A survival match, eh? Thought so.' he thought as he quickly filled out the form.

"First, I'll be explaining the forest's Geographical layout" Anko called out once more, gaining everyone's attention. "The 44th training ground is a circular area sealed of with 44 locked gates. There is a forest, a river and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10km away from the gate entrances."

"Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. This consists of …. a competition were anything goes ...over these scrolls" She said as she pulled two scrolls out of her coat, one with heaven written on it, and the other with earth.

"Scrolls?" someone asked.

"Yes. The scrolls of Heaven and Earth. You will fight over these scrolls. 31 teams passed the first exam. Half of you will get a heaven scroll, and the other half will get the earth scroll. Each team will get one of these" she said, holding them up so that everyone could see them clearly. "And you will fight for them.".

Sasuke, getting bored of all of the talking, decided to move things along. "And what do we need to do to pass?" he asked, his tone showing how obviously bored he was. Honestly, why did these people beat around the bush? Just get to the point already and be done with it.

"Simply put, you need to bring a heaven and earth scroll to the tower, along with your team-mates. You will have to do it within the time limit of 5 days" she said with a smile as she placed the scrolls back into her coat.

"Five days!" Ino cried out, obviously distraught over how bad she'd look after five days in a forest.

"What about food" Choji cried, looking more worried than Ino, worrying just as any Akamichi would.

Anko laughed out loud at the complaints. "Scrounge it. This forest is a treasure trove of nature, there should be plenty of food" She said with a smile. 'Ah, this test is tailor made to screw with Akamichi. Every time there's an Akamichi they ask the same question' she thought in amusement, the Akamichi with out food was more dangerous than a lion protecting it's cubs.

"But" Kabuto called out with a smile as he pushed his glasses up, catching everyone's attention. "There is also an untold amount of poison food, bugs plants and and man-eating animals".

"Oh no" Choji moaned, more about the food than the beasts.

Ino slapped Choji on the head. "Idiot, that's why it's called a survival test" she said angrily, taking her anger out on the Akamichi heir.

"It's also nearly impossible for half of us to pass. As we can't successfully guess who has the right scroll on them, so some teams will get knocked out of the competition and still not have the scroll needed, meaning an extra team will get knocked out. And of course, this will happen more than once." Neji said with a frown as he thought about the exam.

Sasuke smiled as he thought about all the challenges this test could bring. "We also won't be able to sleep properly as there will be enemies around at all times, creating a tense and strenuous atmosphere" he said as he folded his arms in-front of his chest.

"In this test, people will get hurt, people will die, and those who can't bear this test's strictness will emerge" Anko explained. " And lastly, I will explain the rules. If you bring two scrolls to the tower, but are missing a team-mate or one is incapacitated, you will fail. If your team-mate dies, you fail. And lastly, if you look inside the scroll, you fail. The reason for this is simple. When you become Chunin you will be expected to carry secret information, and this is to determine your trustworthiness in handling that responsibility".

The Genin present all contemplated their test. It was simple, yet not. They had to locate an enemy team, defeat them, take their scroll and make it to their location, all within five days. Simple. But they also had to get lucky and get the right scroll, defend their own from enemy Ninja, avoid poisonous insects and plants, be careful of man-eating beasts and keep all members healthy. Not so simple.

The test in itself, without the other Genin, could very well kill you. Adding the enemies to the test and you get a free for all death brawl between Genin with grudges held from previous wars. A perpetual blood bath.

"This should be fun" Sasuke said with a smile. 'This is a perfect chance to prove myself, I'm going to get stronger to kill you, Itachi' he thought as his smile twisted into a more maniacal version, making others frown and back away.

"I agree with the bastard, here's our forms, now give us our scroll" Naruto agreed as he handed over the forms to the proctor, who handed back a blue scroll, Earth. Not letting anyone see any waver in his confidence, people would look at him and see the embodiment of confidence and indifference. Of course, the next sentence.

"Don't die now, Gaki. I wanna see your blood spilled in the later rounds" Anko said with a twisted smile, unnerving Naruto slightly. Seriously, who enjoyed blood. Crazy snake woman.

Naruto played it of though, and raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Is that all you want to see, as I said, I'm sure we can work something out?" he asked with a sly smile. Noticing her ire, he tried not to laugh, but put on a slightly smug attitude.

A tick mark appeared on Anko's head as she heard some laughing. "Get going now, before I kill you, Gaki" She growled out.

Naruto just smiled and waved as he walked away. "Sure thing, _Anko-chan_" Naruto said, emphasising the last part.

Anko was trying to hold herself back from killing him, but broke as she heard him mocking her. She charged forward with a kunai aiming for his head, but was stopped by two Chunin who grabbed one of her arms and dragged her away.

"I'll kill the little shit" was the last exclamation he heard before deciding he should run to his gate as there was a loud explosion from were the Chunin were.

"I think we should hurry up and get away" Naruto said, gulping back his fear as he realised he had maybe pissed of the wrong woman.

"You idiot, Naruto. I was starting to think you were clever, then you go and sign a death wish." Sakura shouted and smacked him on the head.

Naruto rubbed his head and laughed nervously as they stopped in-front of a random gate. "I guess I deserved that, but it was all in good humour".

"Damn right you did, little pervert, you're starting to become more and more like sensei" She said with a huff, "I swear, if you start wearing one of those face masks, I may just kill you".

"You're right. That would be a great idea, those masks are so cool" Naruto said with a smile, feigning seriousness.

"No, what have I done" Sakura lamented as she cried anime tears.

Naruto just chuckled. "I'm only joking Sakura, how the hell would I breath with that thing on. Some times I have to wonder how our sensei does it" he questioned as he laughed lightly.

"We should take it seriously from her on out. So what's the plan?" Sasuke asked seriously, a small frown on his face. He was starting to grow bored, he wanted to prove himself, not stand still like some slug. This inactivity was irksome to say the least.

"Simple" Naruto said, making them look at him. "I choose this gate because the river is right there" he said pointing to the river that ran passed the gate. "We simply follow the river to the tower and get the scroll off of anyone we come across. If we don't run into anyone, we wait at the tower for people to get there then take their scrolls". The plan was simple, easy to carry out and wasn't so detailed that if one thing went wrong you had to abandon it and start a new one. It was perfect.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "That's good enough" he agreed before waiting for the second exam to start.

After several minutes of waiting, the Chunin at the gate moved forward and unlocked it. After another minute or so, the large gate opened, allowing team 7 to charge through it's gates.

The second Exam had begun.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Konoha Council Room

Hiruzen sat in the council room again. The only difference within the council room was one of the civilian council, who had been replaced as he retired.

Today's meeting was a very important one. In fact it was huge. Thanks to Team 7, Konoha had gained a new Kekkei Genkai. Hyoton, Ice release. The ability that is gifted from birth, which was an instant affinity with Water Release and Wind Release, and then the ability to mix the two to make an Ice technique. The last time something like this had happened was when the Nara had joined Konoha half way through the first Shinobi War, who had later been instrumental in leading Konoha to victory thanks to their military tactics genius.

The other council members sat around, all talking in hushed and whispered tones. Obviously trying to ascertain the reason for this council meeting. Hiruzen smiled as he thought of their shocked faces, then frowned when he knew what their first cries would be.

Deciding it was time to start the meeting, Hiruzen coughed into his hand, loud enough to be heard by all. Once silence ensued, he spoke up. "Today I have called you here under Konoha Charter Law: Section 7: Article 1.1" he called out, stunning the hall.

"The capture of an enemy Kekkei Genkai!" Exclaimed a shocked Homura Mitokado, his calm visage shattered.

"But how? And when?" asked an equally shocked Koharu.

'Predictable' thought Hiruzen. 'I knew they'd be the ones to open up the questioning. Next they'll be blaming me for not telling them sooner, that or...' he thought with a tired sigh.

"4 days ago, thanks to the excellent work of Team 7. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, they are responsible for, not only identifying a Kekkei Genkai user, but capturing her and all without the help of their sensei, Kakashi Hatake." As he finished his listing of events, he looked round to see Mebuki swelling in pride of her daughters achievements, but most others were already doing what he thought they would.

"I call for Konoha Charter Law: Section 2: Article 1.3, for a breeding program to be established with this female Kekkei Genkai." Koharu called out as she got over her shock. She knew that this would be a major boon for Konoha's forces, and they needed to act fast before the village that owned this Kekkei Genkai realised and asked for it back on grounds for war. To her pleasure, many councilmen jumped to her side.

"Agreed" was a large cry. Some hoping to strengthen Konoha, others hoping to gain political power by using the soon to be children.

"Denied" Hiruzen said simply, shocking some members of the council.

"Why would that be, Sarutobi, are you going senile." Homura asked sharply, knowing his jibe would have some effect.

Hiruzen laughed and shocked many with his answer. "Yes, I am. And so are you and Koharu, but it is not the reason I am denying that request." he said with a small chuckle as he saw Koharu and Homura huff at the allegation of their ageing. "Come now, we know it's true, very soon we will all be stepping down from our positions. Anyway, the reason I denied your request is simple, you missed Section 2: Article 1.2, a captured Kekkei Genkai users right to willingly co-operate" he said, frowning at the end as he knew they hadn't forgot, they would just rather get the Kekkei Genkai quickly and the poor girl be damned.

More members started to aye to Sarutobi's suggestion, making the elders frown. They would have to act fast to regain the councils backing.

"That may be true, Sarutobi, but what of the village we stole this Kekkei Genkai from. We must make sure this girl has children, so that when they ask for her back, we can simply send her corpse and keep the children and bloodline" Koharu countered, smiling as she thought she'd won.

'Lets see you wriggle you're way out of this one' she thought with a victorious smile.

"That wont happen, seeing as the village doesn't want her" Hiruzen reaffirmed.

Many councilmen and women frowned at that piece of information. What village didn't want a Kekkei Genkai, it was well known that they added a large boon to military strength aswell as political strength. Only a fool would give up a bloodline limit, that or it wasn't worth it.

"And why would that be, Hokage-sama. Is there something wrong with this particular bloodline limit, or is it from Kirigakure" Shikaku Nara drooled lazily.

It was a well known fact that Kirigakure was embroiled in a civil war, and that war was between Kekkei Genkai users and non Kekkei Genkai users. IT was now dragging on into it's third year of conflict, and the way many other nations saw it, the further this war went on, the more their military was crippled. So, no other nation had yet to intervene on either side, preferring to let them whittle away at their own strength.

"Once again your deductive skills amaze me, Shikaku. It is the Hyoton of Kirigakure, a bloodline thought extinct. We truly owe Team 7 a huge reward for this." Hiruzen stated with a small smile as he nodded to Shikaku. The man truly was a genius, a lazy one, but one none the less.

"I see" said a frowning Koharu, knowing her case was now lost.

'Damn you, you sly old monkey' Koharu thought to herself.

"If she decides to comply, she will be allowed to create a new clan within Konoha, she will have to marry by 18, or 25 if she arranges a marriage and informs the council, if not one will be chosen for her on her 18th birthday. She will then have to have a child by 23, or 30 if she chooses option two. And on the plus side Kirigakure wont come looking for her as A) she shouldn't even be alive as it was believed her clan had died, and B) the purges clearly state they want to get rid of Kekkei Genkai." Hiruzen stated matter-of-factly, already knowing the outcome, whether by council choice or not he would do what was right for the girl now. "All in favour".

"You are going soft, Hiruzen, or should I say you have always been too much so" Came the calm voice of Danzo Shimura as he interjected the proceedings. Closing the council door behind him, he proceeded to walk into the council room. Danzo looked at Hiruzen with his one visible eye, the other hid behind bandages.

"We should act now and get as much out of her as soon as possible, not wait 15 years for one child. The benefits are to great, and this child's happiness so insignificant." Danzo called out in a calm voice, but his words sharp. "What is more important, the child's happiness, or Konoha's strength. What one is your duty as Hokage" Once again his voice was calm, portraying no insult, but the hidden and veiled barbs were there for all to see.

Hiruzen scowled at Danzo, the meeting had been going very easily, but the old war hawk just couldn't stay away. This meeting would get very troublesome with Danzo here, as he was not only an excellent orator, but had a significant amount political backing. And spy's. The last reason was the most dangerous as he knew that his forces and council were littered with Danzo's men, but the man still remained hidden and done his work from the shadows, allowing his pawns to interrupt Hiruzen's work and further his cause.

"My duty as Hokage does not come into this, Konoha is not in any immediate danger, and as long as the rebels don't win the Kiri civil war, this is a free Kekkei Genkai. Plus, I have to offer her the chance to join us by Konoha law, I have no choice in the matter." He rebuked cooly, he wouldn't let Danzo get to him, instead he'd just flat out refuse anything the man demanded using Konoha law, after all, Danzo couldn't stand that the most.

"What law can stand up to your decree, our dictatorial leader, Hokage-sama" Danzo reaffirmed his ground with a large amount of sarcasm. Many people were starting to sway to Danzo though, seeing as he was mainly right, and he also had spy's in the room.

"I play by the rules, Danzo, if not I would throw you straight into Interrogation and torture to find out were ROOT is located, but I don't. I don't because there are laws set in place that stop me from doing so, and I need evidence to back up my claim." Hiruzen shot back with a glare, the obvious attempt to challenge his authority not going unheard within the council.

Many in the room remained silent as they watched the stare down both were having. It was common knowledge among ninja and the council alike, that Danzo's paramilitary ANBU, who were supposed to be disbanded years ago, were still operating and swore loyalty only to Danzo, and not the Hokage. An act of treason in most peoples eyes, but the old man had been far to discreet and had hidden his forces far to well, and had an infamous secrecy seal placed on all of them. A very dangerous group.

Hiruzen looked at Danzo with a victorious smile, knowing he'd won, but decided to push the victory home. "Or you could have your way with the Kekkei Genkai child, that is if you're willing to be tortures for a while, I'm sure Anko could have some fun." as he finished he saw many councilmen shiver at the mere thought of Konoha's Snake Summoner, her pleasure in torture well known, and made most people avoid committing crimes just so they didn't have to see her.

"Very well, Hiruzen. Do as you please, but one day your foolishness will eventually come back to destroy Konoha" Danzo spat, walking towards the door.

Just before he left, he looked over his shoulder at Hiruzen with an all knowing smile. "Sooner rather than later, I think" he said, his smile sending shivers down the Hokage's back.

After Danzo left, he called for the vote again.

The vote quickly passed with all in favour, knowing that trying to dispute the fact now would end in there embarrassment. All council members looked to the Hokage to see if the meeting was over, but stay sat down as they realised it wasn't.

'I'm going to have to deal with Danzo, he's obviously planning something. But right now...'

"Next form of business. It appears Orochimaru has infiltrated Konohagakure...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hopped from tree to tree, huffing as they did so. Their fight with Orochimaru had been long and had taken everything they had, even Naruto had used nearly all of his energy, but thankfully ANBU had arrived to take him off their hands.

Naruto knew they had been lucky to survive the snakes attack, for many reasons. Firstly, it was obvious the man was fighting nowhere near his full strength, due to arrogance or illness, he wasn't sure. Secondly, Naruto had gotten in a lucky, or not so lucky, summons that was far more than capable of handling the weakened Sannin. Thirdly, Orochimaru was trying to not draw attention to himself, mainly because he didn't want the Hokage and ANBU breathing down his neck, and reduced the size of his summons. And lastly, He seemed to want to test them, or mainly focused on Sasuke, but seemed interested in him as well, and tried to toy with them, giving them the appropriate time to plot, plan, trap and wait for ANBU.

If it wasn't for those various factors, he felt that he would now be in a lot more pain than he was. He was grateful for Orochimaru's belief that they absolutely couldn't land a hit on him, it had saved their lives.

'Arrogant prick' he thought, remembering what had happened, almost in horrifying detail...

*** Flashback ***

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura ran side by side as they hopped from tree to tree, constantly on the vigil for enemy traps and ambushes.

So far they had already had to deal with some weak ambush from some genjutsu users of Amegakure who had caught them in said Genjutsu, but luckily for them Sasuke's Sharingan picked up on it fairly easy. After that they had dealt with them in close quarter combat, were they were sorely lacking and were knocked unconscious.

After searching them they had found the heaven scroll, much to their delight and had set straight out for the tower, now that they had both scrolls.

They were now expecting to reach the tower within the hour of starting the exam, an obviously extreme achievement as they had five days in which to complete this test.

"Sasuke, can you hear that?" Naruto asked with a frown as he stopped still, Sasuke and Sakura stopping on the next branch along.

Sasuke and Sakura stood still and listened for any sound. After a few seconds, Sasuke frowned as he heard the high pitch screech of wind as it tore its way towards them.

'Shit, for me to hear it at this distance means it's an insanely powerful wind jutsu! I don't think my normal jutsu can counter it, even my **Gokyakou.**' Sasuke thought frantically. 'We're gonna have to use 'it'' he thought resigning himself to having to lose a large amount of chakra already and against one attack.

"Dobe, my normal fire jutsu can't counter a wind jutsu that powerful, we need something with just as much power to bat it back. We'll have to use it" Sasuke said positioning himself for the attack.

"Blue or white" Naruto asked, wondering how powerful it was.

Sasuke turned on his Sharingan to look at the incoming attack and saw how much chakra was in it. "White should do".

Naruto nodded and stood next to him, both started running through hand seals before opening their mouths to release their techniques.

From his mouth, Naruto shot **Fuuton: Renkuudan** with enough chakra to make it a B-rank jutsu, as it tore up the ground and trees heading for the rival jutsu.

From Sasuke's mouth came a large glowing fireball, **Katon: Gokyakou no ****Jutsu**, that quickly met with Naruto's. Both boys focused on merging their chakra and then increasing the output to to match each others, to form a a double size fireball that was bright white. It shot away from the users as Naruto let Sasuke take control of the jutsu, as he had better control and moulding skills with chakra due to his Sharingan.

The large gust of wind that came towards them was suddenly stopped as it met the fireball, and then turned into a great wall of flames as it was overpowered by their technique and sent back to were the user was coming from.

"W-What the hell was that!?" Sakura shouted as she looked at Naruto and Sasuke in awe.

"That was a less powerful version of our collaboration jutsu, **Fire Release: Great Bright Blue Fireball (Akarui Ao Gokyakou No Jutsu)**, but we didn't use any lightning with it, that was **Fire Release: Great White Drilling Fireball (Shiro Doriru Gokyakou No Jutsu)**." Sasuke said as he huffed slightly from the Chakra output, but none the less smiled at the destruction of the Jutsu as he looked at the huge explosion were the two had met.

Roughly one hundred feet away from their position was a large line of fire on the ground and trees, sending a beacon for miles, but that was a problem for later. Just past that line was a a trench that ran in a straight line until it met a large crater, all of which was created by their Jutsu as it tore the ground to pieces before finally exploding.

Looking around, Team 7 found no sign of the enemy attacker, but kept looking anyway. A lull of calm had crept over the forest, it seemed that nothing moved, or so much as breathed. Even the cricket of bugs and insects seemed to have lessened. All paying attention, they opened up their senses.

No movement.

No sound.

No scent.

Chakra signature, check.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as his Sharingan detected a Jutsu being used underground. Turning to his team, he waved them away. "Underground, move!" he said frantically.

Sakura and Naruto jumped back straight away, along with Sasuke, landing with their backs to the trunk of a large tree. And not a moment to soon as the ground suddenly exploded outwards, throwing rubble everywhere. Team 7 covered their faces with their arms until the mud stopped throwing itself at them, when they dropped their arms they were met with the sight of the Kusagakure ninja from earlier.

"You, you're that ninja with the gross tongue" Naruto said in recognition, trying not to barf at the thought of the disgusting tongue. Despite himself he smiled, "I'm sure the opposite sex has complemented it more than enough though, eh?!" He said with a mischievous smile.

"Kukuku, you can keep your composure very well, even under attack. Impressssive" the Kusa nin chuckled, slithering his tongue on the 's'. "Although, you remind me of a white haired fool who once said that to me" he said with a small frown, the distaste of said person was evident in his voice.

"Now that's just mean, I don't like white haired people, so don't compare me to them" Naruto said with a small pout as he tried playing with the Kusa nin. Although he was internally preparing himself for a hard fight, even though it was just one person, he could tell this guy was different from most, just the killing intent was so large it was suffocating. Sasuke seemed to be handling it like Naruto, but Sakura was on her knees, hand going for her kunai pouch.

"Sakura, it's only one person, we'll protect you" Naruto said calmly, trying to help ease her out of the amount of fear that ensued this amount of KI, it was like seeing your own death before your eyes. A terrifying experience.

Hearing her name, Sakura slowly turned her head to look at Naruto's smiling face. She didn't know how, but his calm demeanour, smiling face and warm blue eyes seemed to just radiate warmth and life. Negating the effects of the KI, much to her surprise, she also felt she could not only rely on Sasuke, but Naruto as well.

Nodding her head, she stood. "T-Thanks for that, Naruto. But I can handle myself" She said with a shaky smile back.

"Kukuku, where did this sudden confidence come from. No matter, its time to play a little game I like to call 'The prey and the Predator', lets see how you fair, Sasuke-kun" The Kusa Genin chuckled as he saw them enter their respective defensive positions.

'This could be fun, kukuku, I guess I'll have to see how they fair with some summons' He thought before running through the appropriate hand seals.

"Lets see how you handle my snakes" He shouted, laughing maniacally.

Naruto, recognising the hand seals paled at the thought of what might appear when mixed with this guys obviously huge chakra reserves, if the first jutsu was anything to go by. "Guys, prepare yourselves!" Naruto shouted to his companions, readying himself for the coming animal.

Just as predicted, a large animal, or reptile in this case, appeared in the form of a Giant Snake, about 40-50 feet long and 5-10 wide. Its purple and green scales glistened in the mid day sun, as it trained its green, slit eyes on them. All of them tensed up and prepared to move as it reared up and opened its mouth, showing large and deadly, venomous fangs.

"W-What the hell is that technique?!" Sasuke asked in shock as he looked at the Snake that had just appeared in front of them. 'What sort of monster is he' Sasuke thought. He had seen the amount of chakra that it took to do whatever it was he did, and this guy didn't even seem fazed. It took roughly two-thirds of the chakra he had at his own disposal, so this guy had at least 10 times that to be able to do what he done, and with little to no effect.

"Summoning techniques. The user signs a contract with a certain animal and is able to summon them to battle, I have one, but I haven't summoned anything of this size before" Naruto answered, his hand shaking slightly in a new sense of fear at the realisation at his true amount of chakra, a monstrous amount.

Orochimaru looked surprised at Naruto's explanation, his sources had told him Naruto was a perpetual idiot of a whole other calibre. But to answer that question he had to have a lot more base intellect than previously mentioned, or a summoning contract. Although he was proved right as he did in fact have one, much to his surprise, he still couldn't shake the feeling that his information on Naruto was completely off.

Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise. "You can summon them" he asked incredulously, what the hell was the dobe hiding from him.

"No, I summon Wild Cats, Tigers, Lions and so on. But so far nothing as large as that, but I haven't tried in a while, so I might be able too" Naruto said with a small shrug of his shoulders, "I really don't know though. Should I summon some help though?".

Sasuke thought about it. They could use all the help they could get, but they needed to try and last as well. If Naruto used that amount of chakra this early on, he would be exhausted for most of it. No, they needed to keep that as a trump card. "No. Naruto, use your clones and take point. I'll analyse his movements with my eyes and try to find a weakness, after that I'll exploit as best I can. Sakura, you provide long range support with kunai, try and aim for his blind spots. Use some with explosive notes and aim for the snake's mouth, that should allow you to get past its tough exterior. Lets go" Sasuke ordered, his plan hopefully good enough to get them through this.

"Taju Kage Bunshin" Naruto shouted as he made the cross hand seal, suddenly creating around thirty clones, including himself. Giving the signal, all the Naruto clones and himself ran towards the snake and it's summoner.

Seeing his advance, the snake sunk low, and slid along the floor with its mouth open wide and started swallowing the charging Naruto's, their demise met with loud pops.

'Perfect' Sakura thought as she released to Kunai with explosive notes attached to them, flying straight for the snakes mouth. She smiled in satisfaction as they disappeared into its stomach before promptly blowing it to pieces with a loud bang, but frowned as the area was covered in snake guts. 'Gross' she thought before pulling out more kunai to assist Naruto.

Naruto rolled out of the way as the snake summon exploded and charged on towards the summoner, undeterred. As he closed in he couldn't help but to feel a sudden sense of dread as he was hit with the intense KI, but shrugged it of and focused on his goal.

Quickly creating another thirty Shadow Clones, Naruto and co surrounded the Snake Genin. Seeing no possible way for the Genin to escape without having to fight a clone, Naruto charged forward, deciding to hold the his attention.

After running in, Naruto threw a low kick at his opponents legs, hoping to throw him of balance. He was a little surprised when his leg was jumped over and a kick was returned towards his head, to which he ducked under. Seeing his chance he made a hand motion and one clone went to kick the him whilst he was in the air and blocking some Kunai from Sakura, the clone was swatted away with deft efficiency as the Kusa Genin spun around with a back handed slap, dispelling it.

Deciding he was to slow to land a punch or kick, he decided to change tact and quickly ran though several hand seals. "**Kaminari Senbon (Lightning ****Senbon)**" Naruto cried before shooting out a large volley of light-blue senbon from his mouth, all aiming directly for his opponent as he landed on the ground.

Through a feet of extraordinary flexibility, the Kusa Genin seemed to bend and stretch his body out or the way of the blue needles of death. "Kukuku, Very good, Naruto-kun" he said with a twisted smile. "That use of lightning chakra is among the best I've ever seen. It was packed full of highly dense, volatile lightning chakra and travelled extremely fast. That would have hurt if it had hit me, even with my body".

"Whatever, Orochimaru, unless you haven't realised, I'm busy" Naruto said with a frown as he saw how little his opponent cared about him, but smiled at the look of shock on his face. "Yes, I know it's you. After I signed my summoning contract, I decided to check up on other summoning contracts, especially Konoha's Royal summons, the Snakes, Toads and Slugs. The snakes only have two summoners, you and our second proctor. So it stands to reason that you're not her, but I am wondering why you look nothing like your picture in the Bingo Book" Naruto said with no small amount of satisfaction as he watched his opponents still shocked face.

'This is definitely no idiot, I'm going to sacrifice that idiot, who told me Naruto was a pathetic idiot, to Manda' He thought bitterly, not liking to go into any battle on incorrect information, after all, Knowledge can end or save your life when you least expect it. "Very good, Naruto-kun. You are very surprising, but its not you I'm interested in. It's Sasuke's body that I desire" he said in twisted glee as he licked his lips, as though enjoying a rather pleasant thought.

"Well aren't I glad, Sasuke has fan-boys now aswell." Naruto said dryly, holding back a laugh as he saw Orochimaru frown in indignation. Pulling his sword off of his back and standing in a ready stance, his clones doing likewise. "You'll have to try a lot harder than normal to get into his pants, seeing as all the girls find it impossible" Naruto joked, but then frowned and blinked. "Actually, I think you'll have a better chance then them, for some strange reason."

Smiling one last time as he got a jibe off at Orochimaru and Sasuke, he charged the Sannin "Here I come".

Sasuke watched with his Sharingan as Naruto tried to land hit after hit upon the now identified Orochimaru, but saw the blonde fail every time as Orochimaru flowed around his every attempt. His movements were fluid, like water flowing around a rock, not moving to far out of the way, but remaining just out of reach. Every movement perfect and none wasted. He could tell that Orochimaru was toying with Naruto, and he could tell Naruto knew it as well, but didn't let his anger take control and kept up his methodical attacks to expose his weaknesses, whatever there might be.

'Hm, this seems impossible. Everything he does is done to perfection, not a movement wasted, not any error to capitalise on. Taijutsu he just flows around with ease, Kenjutsu is the same, I doubt Genjutsu would work, but that only leaves Ninjutsu, which he avoids just as easily.' Sasuke thought despairingly at the hopelessness of the situation. A thought suddenly crossed his mind, 'Unless we use one with a large enough area damage, one that doesn't require hitting the target directly, Perfect!' he thought with renewed hope.

"Naruto!" he called out to the battling blonde. "Come here, try and have your clones occupy him for a moment" he ordered and watched as the blonde done just that, before running to his side.

"What is it? Have you found a weakness we can exploit?" Naruto asked as he breathed raggedly, the effects of the battle starting to get to him.

Sasuke frowned. "No and yes. We can't hit him directly, we need something that will catch him in an area effect" Sasuke answered honestly. Their entire life was balancing on something so small, Sasuke was infuriated that all his precious Dojutsu had literally learnt was, you can't win. But he was determined to do so anyway, even if he had only determined his enemies dominance compared to them.

Naruto thought for a minute. When he said area damage, the first thought that Naruto had was a collaboration, but scrapped that idea as it would be too obvious. This required something more like a trap, subtle and none obvious. His enemy needed to not realise what was happening, or not be able to do anything about it was it was activated. Naruto didn't have much in his arsenal that could accomplish that, but he had something that might work.

"Sasuke, I've got a plan" he informed his Uchiha team-mate.

"What is it dobe?" Sasuke asked intrigued as he had yet to think of anything.

"I'm Gonna summon Nemeaus, he's my summon. Big lion, can talk, so don't be surprised when he does." Naruto said with a frown. "Although, I do have the feeling he'll threaten to eat you, but he's probably just grumpy about being woken up. Anyway, you hold of Orochimaru with him, whilst I set up a little surprise for him. When I'm done, all my clones will disappear, so just lead Orochimaru to that grove behind us. Okay?" As he finished he looked to Sasuke who just looked to be frowning.

"I don't know if anything we can do will work though, this is Orochimaru, S-rank missing-nin, Fourth Hokage candidate, after all. He's on a whole different level to Zabuza." Sasuke said with a frown. And Naruto had to agree with him, but he had to at least try, or what was the point, he may has well of rolled over and died.

"Ow! What the hell dobe!" Sasuke growled as he help the throbbing part of his head that Naruto had punched.

Naruto just glared at him. "Pull it together and go fight this guy. After all, if we can beat him, we can beat Itachi, and that's your goal, isn't it." Naruto asked, knowing he'd hit the nail on the head as Sasuke suddenly grinned.

"I guess you're right, this is the perfect chance to prove myself" Sasuke agreed as his grin got wider and wider at the thought of challenging his brother. "I'll see you soon, be ready" he said before running of to fight Orochimaru.

"Damn idiot, didn't even wait for me to summon Nemeaus. Well guess I better get to it" he mumbled to himself as Sasuke jumped the gun.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**" he called as he activated his summoning technique in a cloud of smoke.

What came out of the smoke though, shocked Naruto. Instead of a Lion that was equal in height to him, as Nemeaus should be, there was a large, 15 foot tall white lion that looked more like a sphinx. Its whole body was larger, thicker and longer to match its new height. Its fur was pure white, as was its mane. It's other noticeable differences, were the way every one of his muscles stood extremely prominent and defined. All in all it looked huge, intimidating and as all lions, scary.

"Hello, Naruto-sama, Neko." The large cat greeted as his large voice boomed. "I was told you were our new summoner, but I did not expect to be summoned so soon, Neko. I am Neko, Neko"

Naruto sweatdropped slightly at the weird ending to each sentence, but dismissed it. "Your name isn't important right now, what is.." Naruto said with a serious face. "Is why you keep saying Neko, it means cat, wouldn't Raion (Lion) be more appropriate, seeing as you are in fact a lion".

"So I have been told, but I find it a habit that I can't get rid of, Raion" Neko grumbled before getting punched in the nose.

"You just did you stupid Lion, what the hell is wrong with you" Naruto shouted at his unbelievable summon. If any of his other summons had personality quirks like this, then he'd most likely get rid of the contract with one of Sasuke's fire Jutsu.

Neko just looked at Naruto funnily. "No, I said Neko, Neko. Are you okay Naruto-sama? Neko." Neko asked as though he was confused.

Naruto refused the urge to slap himself in the face, and instead just pointed at the fight between his clones, Sasuke, Sakura and Orochimaru. "You're to help my team-mates, the one in blue and the girl, go" he ordered before he lost his temper with the large cat.

Neko bowed his head slightly. "As you wish, Naruto-sama, Neko" he said before bounding of to join the fight.

Naruto let of a tired sigh and rubbed his temples wearily. "Stupid mutt. Best get to the trap" he said setting off. This was going to be very difficult to lead Orochimaru into, and even harder to make him fall for it. He now cursed his choice of words when he thought his luck would lead to fighting Orochimaru, and now it had by some twist of fate.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Neko!"

"What the hell!" Sasuke shouted as he looked behind him to see a large white lion bounding towards him in strides that made the earth shake.

"I am here to assist you, as per Naruto-sama's orders, Neko" Neko said as he stood next to Sasuke and looked down at his opponent. "How shall I assist you, Brooding-Sama, Neko" Neko asked.

"I don't brood, you useless mutt" Sasuke shouted as he looked back at the summons. Sighing, he resigned himself to the fate of having an annoying cat as his partner. "Just attack that guy and hold him off until Naruto signals for us to retreat, me and Sakura will provide long range support" Sasuke ordered before jumping back to the trees next to Sakura.

"S-Sasuke-kun, Who is that? Or what" She asked a bit scared as she looked down at the monstrous lion, which was now playing a game of death tag with Orochimaru.

"That's Naruto's summon, we are to provide long range support for it until Naruto says his traps ready."

Sakura just nodded dumbly as she started to watch for openings to exploit, today just couldn't get any worse.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

'How the hell did Naruto actually summon someone of Neko's calibre, he's an A-rank summon. The only summons I could use to beat him are my A or S-ranks, and they're all so large that the old man will be here in minutes' Orochimaru thought in a burning rage as he frantically dodged Neko's swipes and bites that came in at blistering speed, of course this all happened whilst he randomly said "Neko".

Orochimaru's choices were now very limited. He couldn't fight at full power as he had just merged with a new host body, and if he went all out would need to switch again as it couldn't hold his full power yet. In another month? Yes. Now? No. So he had to settle with what he had, some low level jutsu, his limited reflexes, speed and Taijutsu capabilities. Not much at all.

"Neko" Orochimaru ducked under another swipe from Neko and let of a kick to the lions face, which, of course, didn't stop him at all.

'I need to put the curse mark on Sasuke-kun soon, if I don't, I wont have enough chakra to imprint it properly' Orochimaru thought as he backed off of the proverbial tank.

Looking around at the various clones, Lion, Sasuke and Sakura, he couldn't see a way around the Lion without going flat out and was about to retreat for now. But smiled as he saw Naruto's clones pop, and Sasuke and Sakura retreat to a small grove. Neko following shortly after as he guarded them from him, but if he was quick enough, he could get around him and apply the curse mark.

'It appears that foolish cat let up his attack due their incompetence, how unlucky for them, and lucky for me' he thought to himself as he started to apply chakra to his legs, this was going to be a mad dash to see who was faster.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I hope Naruto knows what he's doing, Orochimaru looks like he's going to kill us" Sakura said, swallowing back her fear. She still couldn't believe they were fighting the legendary S-class missing-nin, but decided that she could freak out properly later, if there was a later.

"Do not worry, Forehead-sama, I will protect you, Neko" Neko said in a joyous voice in front of them. Almost as though this level of fight did not bother him.

"Why you stupid mutt! I'll give you the worst beating of your life if you call me that again" Sakura screamed as rage overtook her other emotions, even the fear.

'**You tell him, Cha!**' Inner Sakura agreed as she held up a threatening fist.

"Sakura, prepare yourself. He's coming" Sasuke warned as he held his Kunai up in a reverse grip, preparing to defend himself if Naruto's plan went wrong. Sakura followed suit.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"You're body's mine, Sasuke!" Orochimaru screamed as he pushed off with a massive burst of chakra, sending a massive cloud of dust from were he burst off of.

He rushed straight at Neko at tremendous speeds, pushing his body to its limit. As he closed in on Neko, he prepared to drop his right shoulder and role around the large cat, avoiding him completely. But was stopped as four pillars of crackling energy sprung up from the ground in front of him, cancelling his charge.

Orochimaru cursed as he suddenly realised the floor beneath him was covering something, and jumped back as quickly as he could to avoid the ensuing blast of exploding tags. The resulting shock-wave from the explosion sent Orochimaru hurtling backwards as he smashed through several trees, until he finally stopped as he smashed into a thicker than norm trunk.

Looking up he saw kunai flying towards him with ninja wire attached to them, he tried to move out of the way in time, but found himself wrapped around the tree trunk by multiple cords of wire.

"Urg, damn brats" Orochimaru said to himself as he started trying to undo his bindings, but found it was to no avail.

"**Raiton: Gain**!" He looked up to see that Naruto had appeared in front of him with his hands ending a sequence of seals. As he finished a large blue torrent of lightning chakra shot from his mouth at blistering speed, crackling and tearing the earth to pieces as it shot towards him.

'This is going to hurt, a lot' Orochimaru thought as he ground his teeth together, resigning himself to getting hit.

The next moment was a blisteringly painful moment of agony, as high level lighting coursed through his body. Burning his insides to nothing but blackness, shattering bones and destroying organs. His nerve receptors picked nothing up except extreme heat and pain as they send back the data to the brain, making him almost scream in pain. Almost, he managed to restrain himself at the last moment, but still groaned out the pain.

As the lightning stopped running a circuit throughout his body and left his system, Orochimaru sigh in relief. That technique was far more powerful than it should have been, no Genin had that amount of elemental control, but he had been able to handle it, if only barely.

Looking to his left, he saw the ANBU arrive, numbering in the twenties. Orochimaru bit back a curse as he knew he no longer had the chance to mark Sasuke, but resolved to do it later. Sasuke would fall to the sway of his power, he would join him of his on free will. That or he'd be forced to come along anyway, he'd just prefer a willing servant to a forced one. But beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Orochimaru" one of the ANBU said as she steeped forward, her purple hair swaying behind the cat mask she wore. "For crimes against Konoha and humanity, you are under arrest. You will be taken to court and judged for you crimes. Will you come quietly?" She informed him as he looked up at her.

"Ha, don't make me laugh" he spat, deciding it was time to leave and slowly began to merge with the trees. The ANBU agent went to grab him, but was too late. "Until next time, Sasuke. You will want my power, you will seek me out" He said looking Sasuke in the eyes, before fading into the tree.

"Dammit!" the purple haired ANBU shouted angrily before punching the tree in frustration. "We practically had him, what the hell was that escape Jutsu!? URG!" She screamed, punching the tree again.

"Commander, what should we do?" another ANBU asked as he stepped forward, a dog mask on.

"Dog, you report Orochimaru's escape to Hokage-sama. Inu, Tori, heal the Uchiha and the girl, I'll heal the blonde and get the details" She ordered, and with a wave of her hand, they all disappeared apart from two others.

*** Flashback End ***

Shortly after ANBU's, in Naruto opinion, late arrival, he had quickly filled them in, along with Sasuke, Sakura and Neko (Who refused to leave for some reason, damnable cat). The questions asked had been things like, When did he appear? Did he have any help? How could they verify it was Orochimaru? How did they survive the fight? What was his goal? And – What exactly had he said? All reasonable and sensible questions. Naruto had answered them thus. He had attacked around an hour into the exam. He was alone. He used the snake summons, the corpse was located off to their right – and several other directions, what with it being blown to pieces. He then explained the fight in detail. His goal seemed to be getting into Sasuke's pants. Many things about interest, impressiveness, Sasuke's body and about him being a fan boy. All answers were given with a serious face, but he couldn't help but to snicker when the ANBU agent sent him a masked glare before leaving. He might not prank ANBU anymore, but he could still have his fun.

Although he joked around, he did actually supply them with all the relevant and correct information, he was that much of a jackass to potentially wound Konoha. But, he also had to question ANBU's work ethic, they had taken forever to actually show up. Seriously, who the hell lets an S-rank missing nin into their village and then fails to locate them for three days. Village elite, pff, he should be elite, after all he found Orochimaru quicker, even if it wasn't by choice. And if it was something he would vow never to go through again.

Afterwards he had continued to think about Orochimaru. Why was he there? Apparently he wanted Sasuke's body. And although he joked, he knew Orochimaru never meant it sexually, he was there for the Sharingan. Why did he want it? It didn't matter, a Sannin with crimes against humanity would surely put it to some evil and twisted use. Probably involving Konoha. That had also lead him to believe the Chunin Exam and Orochimaru's appearance were no coincidence. Every which way he thought about it after that, he could only come up with one thought, Konoha was in danger. A disturbing thought, but he kept trying to pull any relevance from what was said. Any information he could give the old coot in the tower would be vital, but he just kept pulling up blanks. So, he decided to focus on his current situation.

They were following the river that would lead them to the tower, and were roughly half an hour away. Sasuke, him and Sakura were fine, but sporting low chakra. The ANBU had healed any injuries and boosted some of their chakra, but wouldn't give them too much, so that they weren't seen as favouring their Genin over others. Useless masked bastards, first they show up late, then they refuse to give them the chakra they used against someone ANBU should have taken care of. But moving on from that, Naruto was irked to find Neko running being them, his large paws making a small boom as he ran.

"Neko! Why the hell don't you go home?" Naruto asked/shouted over his shoulder. The amount of noise the cat, ridiculously large animal, made as he ran would bring half the contestants down on them aswell as the wildlife.

Neko looked up above himself to see Naruto tree hopping, he only had to look up a fraction as he was huge himself, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he ran. "When Shi-sama, the queen of the Wild Cats, found out we had a new summoner, she ordered us all to tell you something if we were summoned, Neko" he called back to Naruto.

"And what was that?" Naruto asked as he now looked at his summons in interest, all the while leaping from tree to tree without paying attention. If the Queen of his summons, or queen of anywhere for that matter, wanted to tell him something, why should he not hear it? Of course he wasn't expecting the reply.

Neko looked away in embarrassment. "I forgot, Neko" he mumbled in his booming voice, so Naruto heard clearly enough and nearly face vaulted from thirty feet in the air, but restrained himself.

"What?! How the hell did you forget?!" Naruto spluttered. How the hell did that stupid cat manage to forget an order from his own queen, that took a special kind of ridiculous to accomplish. And obviously it was his summons that did it.

"Nice summons you got there, dobe" Sasuke said sarcastically with a smirk on his face.

"Great, now the bastard is mocking me. You better have a good reason for forgetting, Neko, or so help me" Naruto started shouting angrily, but was surprised when Neko suddenly disappeared in a large puff of smoke. Blinking a few times, he looked around to make sure that Neko had gone. "That useless son of a bitch just disappeared so he didn't receive the lecture he deserved, when I get my hands on him I will make him beg for mercy" Naruto growled angrily with a tick mark forming on his forehead. Of all the possible summons to get, he got a lion with a speech tick, stupidity to a new level and had managed to annoy Sakura for him. He'd kill that overgrown cat when he found him, he vowed it.

By this time though, Sasuke was actually laughing. "Nice one, dobe. That was actually hilarious, this was that awesome jutsu that just added to your awesomeness, right" Sasuke asked sarcastically once he'd managed to stop laughing. "More like added to a list of 'Stupidity and idiocy', priceless".

Naruto was red with fury, not only had Neko done all those things, he'd actually managed to make Sasuke laugh, laugh!, at him. Damnable cat! Naruto was about to begin a series of insults in Sasuke's direction, but stopped when he saw the entrance to the tower. They had made it! Not in the time they should have, but three and a half hours still wasn't bad. And now they could finally move on to the next phase, maybe he'd get lucky and have to fight Sasuke. Who knew. It didn't really matter though, all Naruto was going to do was sleep like the dead for the next five days.

"Well, dobe, it looks like we're there" Sasuke said as he looked at the doors to the tower.

"Yeah, I just wanna get some sleep though" Naruto said with a small yawn, Orochimaru's battle still affecting him in the need for sleep.

"I think we all do, now lets actually go inside rather than stare the doors down" Sakura huffed as she walked towards the door, obviously still pissed at Naruto. He could only begin to imagine how badly the mood tantrums of Hers were gonna be.

Sighing, Naruto resigned himself to the inevitable fate, promising retribution on his feline summons for this injustice, and followed his team to the tower.

'Damn you Neko, I swear you'll pay...'

* * *

**Well, there's another chapter. **

**I skipped the boring ass fight to get the scroll, it would have been short and boring. We all know what would have happened, especially with Naruto SAsuke and Sakura being far better than before. But if you'd prefer those small things that aren't relevant left in, just let me know.**

**Furthermore, I tried playing more on Naruto's changing personality and Sasuke's, not much for Sasuke though, but Naruto's off handed comments against Orochimaru and all that. Tell me if you like, or if you're disappointed.**

**And lastly There was Neko, tell me what you think again. I also tried to start adding more of my own creation deviation from here on out, what with this message and were it could lead. **

**Well, tune in for the next chapter, bye..**


	11. Understanding Me, Understanding You

Vaedhiv: **Thanks. Yeah, last bit just wrote itself in about 30 minutes, Neko and all.**

roboguy45**: Yeah, didn't want him to have it. I've always wondered why every fanfic has to give him the curse mark, I mean seriously, this is an AU, change some shit a least. (I know mine hasn't overly changed, but it will do soon).**

**Kitsune95****: I am wondering myself about the toad contract, but we'll find out when the author sends me the next couple of chapters, the lazy bastard :) (Also, sage mode is not singled to Toads, snakes could use it aswell, so others can, but I haven't decided whether Wild cats can or not).**

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: : Guest: zarethuzumi: Thanks, I was thinking most people wouldn't like my humour, but I'm glad it works.**

**blackmoon124: Yeah, i know. They're similar, but they clash to much. Some people opt for changing Hinata a lot, but I didn't want that.**

**blackmoon124: Yes, but I've taken it as that is the minimum number, not max. **

**E: Yeah, some would say this is cheap, and on some level I have to agree. But, I couldn't right this fic knowing that he could be training like this, it just doesn't make sense that he was never told and is a massive plot hole in my opinion. Plus, it's not like he uses a thousand every day, its more like 150. Which is fair seeing as he has poor chakra control. Plus, Sasuke has the bloody red eyes of death and stealing.**

**To all those others who reviewed, thank you and here's the next chapter.**

* * *

Naruto Sighed deeply as he lowered himself into the hot spring, feeling the soothing heat as he immersed himself in the rejuvenating waters. He felt himself relax as the water pressure relieved all of the stress from his muscles and organs, a much needed relinquishment.

It was now the last day of the second exam, meaning Team 7 had now spent four days within the tower, and all the remaining teams had until noon to arrive or they'd be disqualified. Naruto, of course, was hoping no one else showed up, the less competition the better for Team 7's chances. A bit harsh, the childish side of him thought, as Hinata's and Shikamaru's teams had yet to show, but in the Ninja world you looked out for your team first, that was the way it worked. He didn't delude himself with the ideals of his inner innocence, it just wasn't the time.

No, instead he focused on the resolve of having to beat down any of his friends that he needed to in order to gain the rank of Chunin. It was hard for him as he didn't like the idea of leaving his friends high and dry, but they weren't going to die in the end, or so he hoped anyway, so he resolved to do what he needed.

If that wasn't stress enough, he was still having nightmares each night about Orochimaru. Even though the guy was holding back a considerable amount of his power, he was still way out of their league. Heck, he had even fired a Raiton jutsu that should have fried him inside until all that was left was charcoal. But no, he just smiled afterwards and talked back to some ANBU as if he wasn't even effected, the bastard. The man was a monster, not just a pathological psychopath in the mind, but he was an actual freak of nature.

Turning his attention to the approaching sound of footsteps, Naruto looked at the arrival. It appeared Sasuke had come for some last minute stress relief aswell, they were lucky that the tower had the spring inside, it was a wonderful thing to help some almost traumatised Genin. Sasuke walked to the edge of the spring with only a towel covering his waste leaving him just as naked as Naruto. Slowly walking in and lowering himself, much like Naruto, he heard Sasuke let out a relaxed sigh.

"Morning. What brings you here, Sasuke" Naruto asked casually, although he knew the answer, even if Sasuke was too proud to admit he was stressed.

"Same as you" Sasuke replied, avoiding the answer as Naruto knew he would.

"You're just to proud to admit that the Orochimaru thing got you stressed out, aren't you?" Naruto said with a smile, receiving a grunt in return. "Thought so. So, what do you plan to do once you reach the all-glorious rank of Chunin?" he asked. He knew what Sasuke would do generally, apply for a load of C-rank missions and then move on to B-rank as soon as possible, request Chunin level Jutsu from the Jutsu-library and train like a man possessed. And all in the name of killing his beloved brother in revenge for their little...family spat.

Leaning his head back against the wall, Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Request my family possessions to be returned. That includes Jutsu, fighting techniques, Sharingan training information, heirlooms and all of my relatives eyes." Sasuke said evenly, although, his frown showed he was actually quite annoyed at the fact he had to actually ask permission to receive these things. After all, they were his and his alone by right, the council had no right taking them.

"Eyes?" Naruto asked simply, intrigued by that last statement. "Why would they have their eyes actually removed, Sharingan or not.".

"A few reasons. First, the Sharingan could be grave robbed and it's secrets taken, by Konoha or enemies. Second, some members of our clan do not awaken the Sharingan or go blind, both of which are considered to be cases worse than death. So, to fix that, they have our ancestors eyes implanted into them, and them having the Uchiha genes means it doesn't tax their chakra and they are able to turn it on and off, unlike Kakashi-sensei. And lastly... well that's a clan secret" Sasuke said passively, as though the idea of having his families eyes implanted into himself didn't bother him in the slightest. Naruto was also left anxious to find out the Uchiha clan secret, like all people when they found out there was a secret they weren't allowed to know.

Naruto thought about it for a while. All points were logical, prudent and had large benefits, so he could see why they'd do it. But on the flipside, he couldn't imagine using his families eyes as tools, Dojutsu or not. He thought of it as a sacrilege to the deceased to so much as touch their bodies after death, of course that did not include burial.

"Hm, I see your points, although I don't agree with taking parts out of a deceased person, but that's your clans business, not mine." Naruto said thoughtfully, ignoring the small glare from Sasuke. He only spoke the truth and even told Sasuke he didn't care what his family did, it was their choice, so he could stuff himself if he cared.

"Hn, whatever, Dobe. So, are you going to tell me what you plan to do when you become Chunin, or do you not have any." He replied calmly, but Naruto could tell he was trying to change the topic, so Naruto decided to leave it alone.

Humming thoughtfully, Naruto thought about what he'd do if he became Chunin, he just imagined applying for his council position and doing harder mission. "I think I'll apply for that council seat, like I said. Start taking on harder missions" Naruto smiled as he saw Sasuke nod in agreement, a smile on his face aswell.

"Up the ante on my training regimen, I'll be starting Fuinjutsu and the next level of lightning manipulation. Other than that, I think I'll just try asking the Hokage about my parents again. Seeing as I'll be Chunin and on the council, my life will constantly be in danger from Assassins and out side of the village missions, so he'll have no reason to hold back from telling me". This was the main reason behind joining the village council, he was hoping to pressure the old man into telling him about his parents after he sees that Naruto will be in danger from assassins anyway.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a smirk. "I would never have thought of you as a sly and manipulative bastard, Naruto, I always thought the intellect of that level was beyond you" Sasuke said with a small amount of mirth in his voice.

Naruto just shrugged. "What can I say, I need to know who my parents were, it's killing me not knowing who they were. I mean, you can understand. We have both been lonely for years, on our own and dealing with our problems when no one else truly cared for us. I just wanna know who it was that brought me into this world, some one I had a bond with, no matter how short it was." Naruto said as he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling, not bothering to hold back the wistfulness and regretfulness in his voice.

Naruto also thought about how accurate his statement was, Sasuke could understand him perfectly. He had been born alone and had no one to love him, to hold him when he was sad, no one to congratulate his achievements, to welcome him home, he was missing all of these things. And just like Naruto, Sasuke had gone through this aswell, although, Naruto could see the other pains of Sasuke's life. Naruto had lost and never been loved, Sasuke had loved and been loved and then lost. Naruto honestly didn't know which was worse.

"Hn, I never thought about that before, Naruto. I guess there is someone out there who understands me after all, I thought everyone just wanted to be with me for my name, not to help me through my problems. I thought none of them understood me, but here you are, Dobe, the one person who might actually know me, understand me" Naruto heard Sasuke say, and looking back down from the ceiling, found Sasuke with a contemplative look on his face, obviously mulling over the situation.

Naruto smiled, he knew he'd just made Sasuke open up more than than he had ever done to anyone else. It mad him feel that he and Sasuke were starting to become friends...No, maybe they were already friends. The last thought sending a shocking jolt through the blonde's system, he was friends with _the_ Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto quickly pinched himself, flared his chakra and checked his pulse, all to see if he was awake, not under a Genjutsu and alive. Sighing in relief when he confirmed he was in fact alive, Naruto smiled again.

"Yeah, but we still are different in our sorrow" Naruto said, surprising the raven haired Uchiha.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked with a small frown, not understanding what Naruto was saying.

"The difference is clear, Sasuke. You were born with a family who loved you, and you grew to love. You actually established the bonds that I crave everyday of my life, that of a family. You had someone to look after you as you grew, feed you, protect you, care for you, love you, pick you up when you fell down, hug you when you were sad and just be there. But the one you respected most took that all away from you, ended it all and betrayed you entirely, pushing you into a void of loneliness and sorrow" Naruto said lowly, accounting Sasuke's life and pain.

Sasuke frowned even more. "What is your point, I don't need to be reminded of my tragedies" Sasuke growled, obviously not liking the memories to be drawn upon.

"I never had any of that." Naruto said simply, although his voice was hollow of emotion, only finding tone in sorrow. "I was born alone. I never created the bonds of a family. I was unloved, and loved no one. I was put into an orphanage where the workers mistreated me, kept me away from the other children, never let me play and barely fed me, beat me for no reason and tormented me. This carried on and got progressively worse until I was three, that's when they just kicked me out into the streets and wouldn't let me back in. I was forced to fend for myself.

Day and Night I would roam the streets, eating from dustbins and scraps, alone and scared for three years. Villagers wouldn't help me, they ignored me, threw things at me, beat me, called me a monster, some even tried to kill me at one point. They were stopped by an ANBU black opts member though, who then took me to the Hokage. I was cold, alone, bruised and bloody, and scared. I've never felt so scared and helpless in my life, but the Hokage helped me. He saved me from despair. He quickly got me healed, fed me and got me through my malnutrition. He bought me a flat and allowed me to live on my own, instead of returning to the abusive 'care-workers'" Naruto said angrily as a small tear fell from his eyes, practically spitting out the word care-workers, it was ironic in his mind how they were named and acted so differently to its implications.

Sighing sadly, Naruto carried on. "But, it wasn't enough. When I moved in I quickly learnt to look after my self within my new home, how to cook, clean, wash, bathe, everything. But to cook I needed food, and that required shopping. The Hokage had given me money to buy things, but it did no good if I wasn't allowed into any shops. Every shop in Konoha refused to sell me anything, barring me from their store saying 'Demons like me' weren't welcome in human shops. So, once again, I suffered from malnutrition, forced to eat from garbage bins again. I avoided shops and the streets as villagers would still act the same, through things at me, beat me and call me a monster, but it still didn't help. They came to my home on a weekly basis, smashed my windows, sprayed graffiti on my walls. 'Just die you Demon', 'Monster', 'You should have died at birth' they said, and for what reason they did these things to me, I never knew. It forced me into depression, that happy go lucky kid you saw, just a mask to cover the pain, the sorrow, the anger, the hate." He lamented, shocking Sasuke. Naruto was now looking at Sasuke, their eyes meeting, he hoped Sasuke saw the anguish, the pain and the sorrow, he hoped someone finally understood him

"Later, I joined the Academy. I thought that would be different, but no, they weren't. Instead of malnutrition, I suffered from teachers who ignored my every question, took my notebooks and left me without anything to study from, didn't show me the proper kata for Taijutsu, didn't show me how to even throw a bloody shuriken straight, had to learn everything on my own. In the end they turned me into a retard. And then after putting up with that for years on end, I finally graduated, even after Mizuki sabotaged my results and tricked me. I learnt why the people treated me they way they do, and come to understand their hate for me, why they have a good reason to. And so, I carry that burden. And now, now here we are." Naruto finished in a hoarse whisper no longer able to speak, his voice deserting him.

The emotions almost to much to hold in, but he managed, apart from the few stray tears that ran down his cheeks. After years of holding it all in, holding it back and wearing the mask of joy that he had created, he had finally told someone the truth, and it felt like a burden had suddenly been lifted from his heart as it broke free from the shackles of lies, deceit and sorrowful loneliness.

They sat there in silence, one in contemplation, the other in sorrow.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sasuke sat there in silence as he watched Naruto release all of his built up anguish and sorrow. Through it all he watched the person whose will he had thought unbreakable, break in front of his very eyes. He listened as Naruto reeled off the extremities of his life, the burdens he'd carried, the things he been through. He had to admit, Naruto's life was far, far worse than what he could imagine.

He remembered waking up in the morning, going down stairs and eating with his family, although it was not a happy as most families, it's stoic meeting still made the raven haired boy smile at the memory. But Naruto, he never even had those small things, he never had anything. He also realised, just like Naruto had said, he had been wearing a mask, just like that of the ANBU, never removing it, never showing anybody what was underneath for fear of being hurt and cast away. The real Naruto was someone different, and Sasuke couldn't quite tell what the real Naruto was like, because even now he was sure Naruto still held most of the mask up, not willing to be left open.

Knowing that Naruto had just opened up to him more than he had to anyone else before, Sasuke decided he'd do something he never thought he'd do again in his life, he decided to open up aswell.

"Whilst growing up" Sasuke began, catching Naruto's attention as he looked at Sasuke. "my problems weren't anything like yours, and may even sound conceited and arrogant to you, but they were my problems all the same. I grew up in the shadow of my brother, Itachi Uchiha. At age 7, Itachi graduated from the Academy at the top of his class after only one year, mastered the Sharingan at age 8, passed the Chūnin Exams at age 10, enrolled in ANBU half a year later and became captain by 13. He was the greatest Uchiha genius since Madara Uchiha, one of the founders of Konohagakure. The whole clan practically worshipped the ground he walked on, my father boasted about his prodigal son to all of his peers and co-workers, the villagers looked upon him in awe. Yet I was left in the shadow, ignored. People just referred to me as 'Itachi's brother', I didn't even hold enough respect to have a name." he said with a grunt in indignation, remembering the loneliness he'd felt among his own family.

"Yet I still respected my brother, admired him, wanted to be him. He was my idle. But the problems only increased. My father would always compare me to him, 'Son' he'd say, not even bothering to use the name he'd given me, 'Why can't you do it? I remember when Itachi did this, he was two years younger than you' always belittling my achievements. Even though I was still considered a prodigy myself, the whole clan just saw that I couldn't compare to Itachi, so they ignored me." Frowning, he looked at Naruto, who was just watching, waiting. This was hard for Sasuke though, he had never told anyone this before, not even the psychiatrists the Hokage had sent. After all, who were they to interfere in the life of an Uchiha, his clan was his business and his alone.

Sasuke's frown turned deeper, his eyes felt as though they could split rocks with the glare he had put on. "So, I turned to my brother, my one solace. He didn't compare me to himself, he didn't belittle me. He praised me, helped me, acknowledged me! He was the one and only person who saw me as Sasuke Uchiha, not as the scraps of the Uchiha's main house. And so, I admired him all the more, vowed to make his faith in me justifiable, I swore to make him proud. I wish I never had" Sasuke spat, the last almost as if it was a curse itself. He always remembered the days he looked upon Itachi as his saviour, his proverbial samurai in shining armour. And he loathed to admit he had...no, he still did in some small way, as he had indeed saved him from the clan.

In a low, guttural snarl, he clenched his fists, almost breaking the skin on his palms with his nails. "He then came back from work one day and completed the act that made him so famous; The Uchiha Massacre. In that one fateful night, no matter how much they ignored me, I lost everyone I love. I came home late that day, spending too many hours practising Shurikenjutsu, what I saw still haunts my dreams tonight." His hands were now clenched so hard that he had drawn blood, although, this did not bother him.

In his mind flashes of that night appeared, jumping in at the edges of his vision, as though he was actually seeing it happen again. He was running home, excited at the chance to play with his brother...

"I was coming home, my brother would be back now and he had promised to practise with me, an opportunity I loved to take advantage of. I opened the clan gates and walked through..."

He saw the that there was no one around, there should have been some people. Knowing something was wrong, he ran through the compound. As he did he started to see signs of a battle, Shuriken lodged in walls, char marks from Katon Jutsu and...

"I quickly saw the aftermath of the battles. Shuriken lodged in walls, Kunai and swords laying discarded, and eventually I saw the bodies. Some charred from Katon Jutsu, some had precise cuts to arteries, other had almost been slashed in half. Among the bodies I saw Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Nieces, Nephews and Babies, none were spared. I ran to my house, already fearing the worst..."

Sasuke remembered slowly opening the door to his parents bedroom, flinching at the memory, he saw his parents dead at Itachi's feet. He had asked why, he had seen how, it was a memory he would never forget... how could he when he dreamed of it every night.

"I came into the bedroom, I found my parents dead at Itachi's feet. I remember feeling my heart almost burst in sorrow, the pressure of the emotion was unbearable. I.. I asked Itachi who did it, he said he'd show me, and he did. He used a Uchiha Genjutsu that allowed me to view the events of that night, as he killed all of our family, I just had to sit and watch it get replayed over and over again in my head. Afterwards, he simply said he did it for power, told me to hate him, find him, and kill him. Then he just left".

As Sasuke finished he closed his eyes and focused on blocking out the memories, they were always worse when he thought about them. He knew he would find no sleep tonight, his nightmares would not allow it.

He now felt relieved though, someone out there finally understood him. He felt he could finally know that someone knew what he'd been through, as he had himself, and he felt he understood Naruto aswell. It was like half the world had just been lifted off of his shoulders, finally being understood made him feel like he could actually trust someone again. All these years people had said they understood his hurt, were sorry for his losses and would do whatever they could to help. But Sasuke wasn't fooled, they never understood, they were never sorry for him, they were sorry for the Uchiha, sorry they lost Itachi, he always despised these people and their falsities, fan girls especially. But now, now there was someone who understood, someone who was sorry for his loss, someone who would actually help him out of understanding and not just trying to gain some of the power of the Uchiha. He felt as though he finally had someone he might finally call a friend, a comrade, almost a brother in sorrow.

They sat there in silence, both in contemplation, both in sorrow, both in understanding, both as friends.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Kakashi smiled as he leant against the wall just next to the door that lead into the hot spring. It seemed his students had both shed their shackles of mistrust and sorrow and finally come to an understanding, a common grounds, a friendship.

He smiled as he realised his team were finally knitting the bonds of fellowship, friendship, comradeship and brotherhood, things he himself had failed to do. He was glad that this team wouldn't end like his, not realising their bonds until they die, a very painful path to walk down. It seemed he could now move them forward in their training, as he swore to only train those who would uphold his beliefs, and it seemed they had.

Closing his book, Kakashi walked off with a hidden smile under his mask, it seemed he had been right to train this team after all.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto smiled slightly as he pulled his dark-red jacket over his arms, allowing himself to relax and rejoice in the fact he found some who understood him. It would have seemed almost impossible for him a little while ago, seeing as he didn't understand himself or his situation properly, but here he was. He now had someone he knew and who knew him.

Quickly strapping on his Uzumaki Forehead protector, and his Konoha one, he left his temporary living space that had been given to him for the duration of his stay at the tower. He was now heading for the meeting location of all the teams that passed, a battle ground. Of course, this set Naruto on edge and so he prepared for a fight. Given that he had read about the basic staging of the tournaments, he knew that if too many Genin were left at the end of the second round, there would be a knock out stage to thin the field.

Hopefully though, seeing as how his team arrived extremely early, everyone else should be more tired than his team were. Almost half of the teams had arrived within the last few hours, meaning they would most likely be bordering on consciousness and running on chakra fumes, seeing as how they would have to travel around and through the multiple traps and ambushes at the end. Most teams had arrived the day before, meaning they were tired, but had enough rest to fight to a reasonable level. And then there were teams like Team 7, the Kumo team and the Suna team that all managed to reach the tower on the first day. They would have a clear advantage of having time to rest, recuperate and prepare.

Turning down a series of corridors, Naruto made his way towards the next part of the exam and, after a few more turns, walked through two large doors, the entrance to the next stage. Inside was a large arena looking area. It was made mainly of grey stone, it's roof was very high and the fighting area very open, leaving for a good amount of space to fight in. To the left and right of the arena there was a raised platform were spectators could safely watch from, or a little more safely at the least. Directly opposite the entrance at the far end of the arena were two large arms that were positioned in the Ram hand sign, it gave the arena a very knowing presence of confrontation.

Seeing that all the teams were lined up, Naruto decided to go stand next to Sasuke an Sakura. Around him were the other teams that had passed. Among them were: Kumo's jinchuuriki team, Suna's Jinchuuriki team and Team's 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Konoha.

Naruto smiled at seeing all of his friends had passed. "Good to see you guys made it, even if it took you all five days" Naruto joked.

"Whatever, we can't all get here on the first day like you, Naruto" Shikamaru said as he yawned and scratched the back of his head.

"Or you just slept for most of the exam and decided to come here on the last day" Naruto jibbed, earning a few chuckles here and there. Except for Ino.

"Rggg. He did sleep through most of the exam, the lazy idiot" Ino growled as she smacked Shikamaru upside the head.

Shikamaru just shrugged and muttered "Troublesome blondes".

"I-I'm glad you made it, Naruto-kun" Hinata mumbled as she pushed two of her fingers together, her nervous twitch that happened whenever she talked to Naruto. Evidently still unable to find the courage she needed around Naruto; or anyone for that matter.

Naruto pitied Hinata, although, he would never say it. She already had confidence problems, she didn't need to know the person she loves pities her. It would damage her more than she already was, something he hoped to change about her. He went to congratulate her back; but was stopped from the voice of the Hokage.

"Hello, Genin" his voice was low, but carried the entire hall. Everyone went silent when they heard the voice of the old Hokage.

Known as the Kami No Shinobi across the nations for his godlike battle prowess and skill and power, The Professor for having an excellent strategic mind that almost none compared to, aswell as his known feet of reading every book and mastering every technique within Konoha. All across the Nations knew this was a man of power, wisdom, to be feared, and above all: respected.

Stepping forward his white and red Hokage robes rustled slightly as he moved. "I'm glad to see so many of you made it unharmed, or should I say made it" he corrected, looking over one or two injuries that were to be expected from the forest of death. "I will now explain the purpose of the Chunin Exams".

_Purpose?_ It was to get promoted, for Genin, Low-level ninja, to become Chunin, Mid-level ninja. But, now that the Hokage said there was a point to the exam it almost sound to easy of an answer. All Geninwisely kept their mouths shut.

Seeing the silence and accompanying questioning faces, the Hokage continued. "Some, or all, of you may be thinking "_Purpose? To get promoted, of course_", you are correct and incorrect. Promotion is more like the spoils of this contest, the purpose is much, much more"

"As you know, your countries leader and lord shall be present during the finals. This will be for deferent reasons, which will lead to the same thing: a country showing which is producing the strongest ninja. This is done to vie for better jobs from better clients, Diamyo. Diamyo will only look for the best of the best, or from their own counties. And even then they will still hire the foreign, better ninja every now and then."

The room listened on, starting to understand their roll in this game of politics. A daunting thing for them all, to be used.

The Hokage carried on. "The countries who do well will get an influx of missions, meaning more money and a better economy for their village. Those who do bad will get less job offers, meaning less money and poorer economy. Less economy means the village will be unable to sustain it's ninja forces, and thus: disarmament. Who can afford ninja that aren't being used?" the Hokage put his pipe to his lips, letting that sink in.

Everyone was in thought. What would it be like for their village to disarm, to get rid of it's ninja, to get rid of them? None could know, it was a stray thought; they wouldn't let it happen. The problem of a poorer country was always ever present, though. And a poor country was a weak country. And a weak country would be attacked and destroyed.

Having had long enough, the old man carried on. "That were you come in. You fight and represent you country in these mini war simulations, you make your country look good or bad. So, know that whatever you do: your countries fate may indirectly lay in your actions. That is all, well done and good luck" Having finished his speech, the Hokage stepped back with some other Jounin.

A few moments respite were allowed for the child soldiers after they heard that: they were political tools and weapons that were being used and thrown. Some found it hard to handle more than others, others not so much.

'_Typical, we're just being used like normal. But why should we care? We're are ninja now, we could die any day, have to kill any day. And they are usually most day' _Naruto thought with a smirk, not overly bothered by the old man's speech. It was probably just another test to see who could handle the realities of being a ninja with more responsibility, and those who couldn't.

A jounin walking forward suddenly caught everyone's attention. He was a tall man with slouched shoulders. He wore the standard dark blue Konoha uniform with a green flak vest over the top, he also had a bandana over his hair which also had his forehead protector on it. His skin was pale, sickly. Pronounced lines were under his eyes and his dark brown hair hung loosely on his forehead.

"I'm you proctor, Hayate Gekko, for this interim stage, which I will now explain. There are, simply putting it, too many of you to continue. You will now be entering a knock out match each, the winner goes though and the loser doesn't. The rules are simple: Do as I say, when I say. If I say stop, you stop or face the consequences. Furthermore, the match is over as soon as one opponent is unable to continue, so you best stop. And lastly, if I feel a match needs to be stopped, I will." The man's – Hayate's, voice sounded weak. Matched with his appearance, Naruto couldn't help but think the man was very ill.

Instantly the complaints came out, and unsurprisingly it came from the feral Kiba. "What the hell! We have to fight now? We just spent five nights in that death trap you called a forest, some teams have been resting here all five days" He roared over the others, his face twisted into a snarl of rage.

The proctor looked at him levelly, expression never changing. Maybe he just didn't have the energy to move his facial muscles. "And? That's your problem, not mine. They done better than you did, they get a reward. It's simple, now be quite as the match making will now begin" Hayate said calmly, as if explaining things to... well, an Inazuka.

Naruto laughed. "You heard him, mutt. Shut it" Naruto said trying not to laugh anymore at Kiba, but failed when he shouted back 'Bite me'.

Everyone turned their attention to the board at the front of the room, which was now rapidly changing names, deciding who would fight first. They all waited in anticipation, some hoping for a rest, others to go first.

It came up Kiba vs. Naruto.

Naruto smiled, this would be just as easy as the other day. Turning his head, he looked at a nervous Kiba. "Ready to get whooped, Kiba. Or have you forgotten last time".

Kiba growled lowly as everyone else jumped onto the surrounding stands, for safety reasons. "That was luck, dead-last. I won't lose this time, just you watch" he growled, before jumping a distance back from Naruto and allowing Akamaru to jump next to him.

Hayate looked between the two contestants, the growling and pissed Inazuka, and the passive and smiling Uzumaki. He had a feeling who would win, but decided it was time to start the fight. "Both contestants ready" he called, both nodded their heads. "Begin!"

"Time to face the music, idiot" Kiba snarled, before turning to Akamaru. "Come on, buddy, let's show him who's the a-" Kiba started, but was stopped when a fist planted itself with his turned head. Everyone heard the loud crack before he was sent tumbling to the ground.

"Seriously, Kiba" Naruto asked his downed opponent. "You call me an idiot and then turn away from me and allow me to attack your blind side, you're the idiot". When Kiba had turned to have that small chat with his dog, he had been asking for someone to knock him down. It just so happens that Naruto did. And very hard too.

"Ah! Shut up!" Kiba yelled as he went into a feral, all four stance. "Akamaru!" he threw a black pill to his dog, who suddenly turned into another version of him. **Jujin Bunshin (Beast clone)** they were called. The only difference now was there were now two Kiba, and all of Kiba features were more animalistic, longer nails and canines.

"Oh, scary" Naruto said nonchalantly, none to amazed by Kiba's skills. He could make a thousand solid clones in an instant and he could summon lions. Wait. That could could be fun. Smiling, Naruto started running through the correct hand signs. "I'll show you a real animal, Inazuka"

Although Kiba had no idea what Naruto meant, he wasn't about to let him finish those hand seals if he could. Pushing chakra into his legs and building it up, Kiba prepared to go fast. Suddenly he pushed off at great speed, leaving a small dust cloud behind him. Akamaru was right beside him.

Naruto watched the two Kiba's approach him at rapid speed, but he knew they were too late. Slamming his hand onto the ground, he called out his technique. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Focusing all of his thoughts on Nemeaus this time, and after only using a small – smaller than when he used Neko- amount of chakra, he succeeded. Nemeaus appeared in a puff of smoke, his golden coat shimmering in the light. The sight of a full grown lion made Kiba stop in his tracks.

"Dobe, what the hell is that lion doing here?" Kiba shouted in alarm, his voice going very high pitched.

"You sound like a girl, Kiba. All this talk about you being Alpha male and you can't even face a lion. Oh, and this is Nemeaus, my personal summons of the Uzumaki clan. Nemeaus, this is the guy that's more of an idiot than I care to explain" Naruto said jovially, knowing he'd just shocked everyone in the room.

Looking back to his Lion Summons, he realised Nemeaus was trying to lay down and go to sleep. Naruto sighed to himself and kicked him in the ribs, and refused to wince when it felt like kicking steel. Impenetrable fur, must be iron fur aswell. "Oh no you don't. Get up and attack you lazy bastard" Naruto growled in irritation. Seriously, why did he want to sleep now.

Nemeaus looked at Naruto and dutifully ignored him. Naruto sighed, he realised what Nemeaus wanted. "Fine, I'll buy you some stake later. Happy".

Nemeaus stood back up and raised his hackles in, what Naruto thought, a smile, of sorts. More of a look of entertainment. "All you can eat aswell, you cheap bastard. Now lets see what I have to deal with" Nemeaus said as he observed the enemy. Turning his head to Naruto, he looked at him questioningly. "You called me out to fight an idiot and a puppy, Why?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, but kept his eyes on Kiba who was watching the Lion wearily. "To show Kiba he is nowhere near as wild as he thinks, does it matter?" To Naruto, it didn't. His damnable Summons' should just shut it and fight.

Kiba, finally deciding he shouldn't wait any longer, growled to his partner; it was time to attack. "Let's do it, Akamaru" Kiba said as he jumped forward, Akamaru's clone doing the same.

As they were in the air, both Kiba and his partner started to spin insanely fast, the wind tearing around them. The wind continued to tear around them, spinning, twisting , contorting into a black hurricane that enveloped Kiba and Akamaru. It was the famous Inazuka technique. Both black hurricanes shot towards Naruto and Nemeaus, neither bothered by their encroaching demise.

Nemeaus appeared to watch with disinterest, he looked at Naruto. "Shall I show that Inazuka who gave them the idea for that move".

Naruto's lips curled up into a smile. "Yes, do".

Without further a word, Nemeaus shot forward. His long, lopping legs bound across the floor, his chest heaved as everyone watched him rapidly approach the two foes. Suddenly, as he ran, the wind started to part in-front of him, creating a slip stream of wind around him, stemming from his front. The wind had to move around him at such speeds it became visible, in a low golden light as the wind twisted in and out of Nemeaus' body, cocooning him in a light golden wind.

Nemeaus' wind-like bullet that had shaped around him doubled in width as he picked up speed, drawing near his opponents at a rapid rate. Kiba and Akamaru started to circle each other, their winds twirling together to form a double sized hurricane of their black wind. Both forces clashed in a loud explosion of air, everyone pushed back as they were buffeted by the howling winds.

When the dust cloud cleared, it showed a funny scene. Nemeaus sitting on his haunches, almost like a dog waiting it's master, and Akamaru and Kiba standing next to each other holding their heads. Both had obviously taken the brunt of the attack.

"I'll give credit were it's due, that was a good **Gatsuga**, mutt. You have potential, but you won't win today" Nemeaus said offhandedly, not effected by the clash.

Kiba looked up, his face twisted into a snarl. "Keep your compliments, kitten. I'll hear them once I've sent you back to the rest of the litter." He snarled, obviously not liking the way Nemeaus was looking down on him.

Naruto held back a laugh, but decided to call back Nemeaus. "Nemeaus, come here. It appears they're going to attack again". Indeed they were, both Kiba and Akamaru had rose.

"Very well" Nemeaus said as he walked up to Naruto's side. "What do you plan to do, they wont try **Gatsuga **again, if they know what good for them that is".

No they wouldn't, and to attest to that both of them were running at Naruto and Nemeaus separately, obviously hopping to take Naruto out whilst Nemeaus was distracted. It wouldn't work. "Nemeaus, take the pup, I'll take the moron".

Nemeaus nodded his head and ran to join Akamaru in battle.

Naruto moved his left leg back, raised his arms in a ready position. He'd win in Taijutsu this time around. Kiba came in fast and low, his clawed hand hopping to get under his guard. Naruto stepped back and pushed Kiba's hand away and pushed a knee up into his guts, using his momentum against him.

Kiba twisted around the knee, only receiving a small but jarring knock to the edge of his ribs. Letting his momentum take him, Kiba followed his hand passed Naruto and aimed a kick at his face. Naruto ducked under the leg and caught it in one of his hands, twisting he threw Kiba a few feat.

"Not bad, dobe. But it wont be enough, this style increases the Inazuka's speed, agility, power and reflexes" Kiba taunted as he rose again, preparing for another assault.

"Your speed is the same as mine, power is a little more, agility I have more of, and your reflexes? - I have an Uchiha with a Sharingan on my team, his reflexes are insane. You're nothing special, moron." Naruto shot back cooly.

All of it was true. Naruto was just as fast as Kiba due to his constant practice, he was more agile with his smaller body, admittedly Kiba was quite a bit stronger, but Naruto could take hundreds of Kiba's punches. Also, his reflexes didn't even come close to Sasuke's, Naruto could handle it with ease.

"Shut it, dobe!" Kiba growled as he shot forward again.

What came next was an all out fight between a fast Inazuka and an incredibly tough brawler, like all Uzumaki. Kiba would constantly try and claw Naruto to pieces, aiming to put his advantage to use. Naruto would just slap his arms away or move out of the way of them, nullifying the advantage and tiring Kiba out.

The fight carried on and still Kiba did not land a hit, instead he started to take a few from Naruto as he tired. Naruto's style lived up to it's use, tire and weaken the enemy and then pound them to dust. The last phase was the one that Naruto was enjoying at the moment.

Swinging a fist low, Kiba blocked him with his wrists crossed together. Naruto made use of Kiba using both arms and sent a jarring punch to Kiba's head, forcing him to stumble back. Naruto didn't let up. Swinging a leg low he caught Kiba's shin, making him fall to his knee. Bringing a fist up, he crashed his knuckles into Kiba's stomach, making him spit out blood and bend over his fist. Naruto used that to grab both sides of Kiba's head and viciously bring his knee up to Kiba's face. There was a loud crunch – probably Kiba's broken nose, Naruto thought – and Kiba flew backwards, hitting the floor with a thud.

The proctor walked over to Kiba's motionless form, checked it for a few seconds and then rose again. "Kiba Inazuka is unable to battle, Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!" he called over the hall. A light clapping came from all sides, foreigners not really caring, Konoha ninja unsure whether to clap one of their friends getting beat up.

Naruto dusted himself off and looked over to see Nemeaus sitting next to an unconscious puppy. "Have fun?"

Nemeaus grunted. "The pup knew it would loose, it was just holding me off for the chance that it's master would beat you. Knowing it would already lose made it give up too easily" Nemeaus looked over to Kiba's form. "Looks like you did, though"

It was more a statement then a question, and he was right by it. Naruto smiled and looked at Nemeaus with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to go home now?".

Nemeaus yawned. "That depends" he said.

Naruto waited for him to carry on, but he didn't. "On what?" he prompted.

"Shi-sama has decided to ask you if you would like a familiar, one that wouldn't disappear. All Uzumaki are offered this option"

Naruto was surprised. A pet lion, how cool would that be. He'd probably scare the civilians out of their wits, the council would probably have a fit, but he didn't care. Naruto smiled. "Hell yeah! So who is it, it better not be Neko or I'll kill him" he said with a deadpan.

"Yeah, he does that to most people. Well, shall we go to the stands, everyone's waiting" Nemeaus as he started walking towards the stairs.

Naruto looked around, everyone was watching him. The proctor was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Not that I don't find it cool that your gonna be walking round Konoha with a pet lion, but please get the hell off of my arena so I can move this on" Hayate said.

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yeah...sorry bout that" he said before he ran to the stairs, catching up with Nemeaus.

As Nemeaus prowled up the stairs slowly, he looked at Naruto. "Oh, you caught up" he said simply.

"Yeah, but you still haven't told me who my familiar will be" he said with a frown.

Nemeaus seamed to raise an eyebrow. "I thought that would be fairly simple, me".

Naruto stopped in his tracks. He knew it would be a bad idea to accept, now he was stuck with this grumpy and lazy bastard. Turning to face the wall, he started to repeatedly bash his head on it. "Stupid, stupid, stupid".

"As much as I agree with you" Nemeaus said sounding amused "Let's save it for later" and continued to walk up the steps.

Naruto, stopping his lamentation, walked next him. They passed the other Genin who patted him on the back and congratulated him, but all watched Nemeaus wearily. Why did Naruto have a frickin lion, was their obvious thoughts. Naruto shrugged it off and walked to his team.

"Hey, Sasuke, Sakura. Did you see my awesomeness?" he asked with a large grin as he puffed out his chest.

"Why is your lion still here, Naruto" Sakura asked.

"Did you seriously need a summons to handle that idiot?" Sasuke asked.

"You have the royal summons of Uzushiogakure, since when?"Kakashi asked, looking up from his book for a moment.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he heard the questions and no congratulations. "Is that all you can say; no well done, just why, why and when?" he asked in a clipped tone.

"Idiot, it was obvious you were going to win; so why congratulate you? Now answer the questions" Sasuke said, his lips twisting upwards in amusement at Naruto's ire.

Naruto contemplated electrocuting them all, but decided to just tell them; after all, Sasuke was always a prick- so why should he change? The others though, they were get pranked- Sakura's shampoo was gonna get changed with blue hair dye. Kakashi would also find – or rather lose his copy of the latest Icha Icha. They'd pay for their lax support, or lack of.

"Well, I guess that's the best form of support I'll get from my team – and to think, it came from Sasuke. You two are officially worse than Sasuke in social situations" Naruto said drearily.

Kakashi waved his free hand – the one not holding his precious book – in a placating manner. "Maa maa, Naruto. No one can be as socially inept as Sasuke is, you exaggerate" he jovially, the edges of his mask turning up into a smile.

Naruto smiled slightly at the joke, but decided to answer their questions. "In order asked: Because he's now my familiar and will be staying with me permanently – kinda like Kiba's mutt. No, I was just having some fun. Since the Genin Exams. There you go, questions answered" he said with a small huff, still annoyed at his team. "Now let's watch these damn matches".

Nodding in agreement, they all turned back to watch the matches – it was time for some reconnaissance. Whatever they learnt from their opponent's abilities here, would allow them to prepare a counter for the finals. It would be best to come prepared, there was more chance that they would walk away from the encounter with their head firmly on their shoulders. Or they at least hoped so, they have to wait to find out.

Just then the next name reeled off on the screen: Sasuke Uchiha Vs Shino Aburame.

* * *

**Well, there you have it, chapter 10.**

**I did what I felt needed to be done with Sasuke and Naruto. I always see these fights between Naruto and Sasuke that are like "You don't understand me, Dobe, now die!" and Sasuke promptly dies afterwards. Here is a thought, why not have them actually understand one another, it makes for a total difference.**

**And on that note, was it an alright scene. Was it too much, too little, tell me what you think. I hope it wasn't all that boring, but i think I got them both right.**

**Also, not much chance for humor in this chapter, but i tried. **

**Lastly, I'm already half way through the next chapter, so it should come far sooner.**

**until next time.**


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